Green-flowered Wintergreen
Pyrola chlorantha
Heather family (Ericaceae)
Green-flowered Wintergreen is easily spotted in its normal dry Spruce forest habitat because of its bright green leaves and its red flower (its ""). The over-winter. Pyrolas are sorted out from one another first by the shape of their , which may be straight or decidedly up-curved in the lower portion. Pyrola chlorantha's is curved, but can vary from nearly straight to up-curved. Perhaps this variation is due to hybridization of Pyrola chlorantha and Pyrola minor. Pyrola chlorantha is circumboreal and was named and described by Olaf Swartz in 1810 from a specimen collected in Sweden. "Chlorantha" means "green flowered."

©2009 Paul Slichter