Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

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

Description

to 10" tall. Leaves with chlorophyll, leathery, , with to about 1 1/2" across, , oval, , to nearly circular, finely . to over 2" long. usually 2-9-flowered with nodding flowers. Petals green-yellow about 1/4" long. yellow. ( from the ) curved with a flaring collar below the . a with numerous seeds.

Field Marks

Green-yellow, nodding flowers atop leafless stem with bright green with prominent veins.

© Al Schneider

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.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

A peduncle is a common stalk of a cluster of flowers.

The anther is a pad at the end of the stamen that holds the pollen.

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

obovate -- Teardrop-shaped, stem attaches to tapering point.

serrate -- toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward; like the cutting edge of a saw.

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.

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

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

stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

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

stigma - The tip of a pistil that receives the pollen.

petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.

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

blade -- Just the flat part of a leaf. Not the stem.

exserted -- projected beyond. (Exserted stamens project beyond the corolla tube.)

rhizome -- root-like stems that may either grow horizontally at the soil surface or in other orientations underground.