Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Pink Pyrola
Pyrola asarifolia
Heather family (Ericaceae)

These lovely Pyrolas can be obscured by grasses in boggy or they can be very obvious at the side of the trail in moist open forests. Pyrola asarifolia grows to 15 inches tall and spreads in large colonies. It is usually the large, shiny green, thick mat of leaves that first catches our attention. Because of the resemblance of the of this to the leaves of a Pear Tree, Linnaeus gave it the name "Pyrola," a diminutive of "Pyrus," the Pear Tree. "Asarifolia" means "with leaves similar to those of Asarum," Wild Ginger. Greenflowered Wintergreen (Pyrola chlorantha) is found in similar habitat and is distributed through the same mountainous areas.


©2009 Alfred Cook

Description

, 4-12" tall, with leathery, shiny leaves and nodding pink-purple flowers. Flower stems are single and leafless. Flowers are cup-shaped with long curved , typically 10-25 in an elongated cluster, facing downward. Round to elliptical leaves, often round-, are arranged in . are round, 5-chambered with curved .

Field Marks

Pink cup-shaped nodding flowers arranged on with long projecting , leaves.

© Al Schneider

An evergreen tree retains a large portion of its green leaves all year.

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

rosette -- usually a dense cluster of leaves at the base of a plant.

persistent -- When the leaves of a plant fail to fall off in the fall they are persistent. Flowers that stay around after fruiting would be persistent.

basal -- at the base, situated or attached at the base.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

meadow -- Large grass and wildflower filled area with few, if any, trees.