Plants terrestrial, 10-25 cm. Rhizomes sympodial, proliferatively branching, units 2-30 cm × 1-1.5 mm, roots restricted to nodes. Stems erect, 1-1.8 dm × 1-2.5 mm. Leaves solitary on sterile shoots, 2-3 on fertile shoots; blade 4.5-7(-9) × 3-4.5(-5.5) cm, apex acute or short-caudate; proximal leaves sessile, blade ovate, base with narrow sinus; distal leaves petiolate, blade cordate, petiole 1-7 mm. Inflorescences racemose, complex, 12-25-flowered. Flowers (1-)2(-3) per node, 2-merous; tepals conspicuous, 1.5-2 × 0.8-1 mm; filaments 1-1.5 mm; anthers 0.2-0.4 mm; ovary globose, 0.8-1 mm wide; style 0.5-0.8 mm; stigma distinctly 2-lobed; pedicel 3-7 × 0.2-0.5 mm. Berries green mottled red when young, maturing to deep translucent red, globose, 4-6 mm diam. Seeds 1-2, globose, 3 mm. 2n = 36, 54, 72. Flowering early spring. Deciduous and coniferous forests, persisting in forest remnants and parks; 0--1800 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo. Pubescent specimens of Maianthemum canadense in the western half of the range with consistently larger leaves have been treated as var. interius.