One-sided Pyrola / Orthilia secunda

One-sided Pyrola, also named One-sided Wintergreen, is a very tiny plant, found in the forest. Came across this one at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, SW of the city, on 14 July 2014.

"A raceme of 3 to 25 flowers on short stalks hanging from 1 side of the arcing stem at the top of the plant. Flowers are about ¼ inch long, creamy white to greenish white, urn-shaped, with several creamy-tipped stamens and a long, stout green style protruding from the center. There is often a scale-like leafy bract where the flower stalk attaches to the stem.

One-sided Pyrola is fairly common but may go unnoticed due to its diminutive size. It prefers the mossy floor of forests and bogs. It may form small colonies, spreading via rhizomes."

www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/one-sided-pyrola