WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 
 

Look for his petit flower on the shady floors of deep conifer forests at high elevations. Each 2–6 inch tall, unbranched, leafless flower stalk bears a single nodding flower with creamy white petals. Note the rounded basal leaves with tiny teeth on the edges. Also called shy maiden and one-flowered wintergreen.


FLOWER: June–August. Flowers 1/2–1 inch diameter (12–25 mm) with 5 wide-spreading, oval, white petals; cylindrical style is tipped with 5 pointed, auger-like stigma lobes The nodding flower develops into an erect capsule with about 1,000 tiny seeds.


LEAVES: Appearing basal or whorled around base of stem. Blade 1–2 inches long (25–50 mm), oval to round; margins with sharp to rounded teeth.


HABITAT: Moist soils; stream sides, mossy, shady, cool, damp woods, mountain meadows; spruce-fir forests.


ELEVATION: 9,200–11,150 feet.


RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, UT; widespread in states west of Rockies and eastward through Great Lake states to Maine; circumboreal.


SIMILAR SPECIES: Sidebells Wintergreen, Orthilia secunda, in the northern, central, and western mountains in NM, has clusters of bell-shaped flowers along one side the stem, and leaves on the lower 1/3 of the stem. Green-flowered WintergreenPyrola chlorantha, has nodding flowers that spiral around the stem, and pale, creamy green leaves.


NM COUNTIES: Mountains of NM in high-elevation moist, forested habitats: Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe,Taos.

WOOD  NYMPH,  SINGLE  DELIGHT

MONESES  UNIFLORA  (PYROLA  UNIFLORA)

Heath Family, Ericaceae

Perennial herb

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Each plant has one green, leafless flower stalk with a single nodding bloom.

Leaves at the base of plant are oval to rounded with sharp to rounded teeth lining the edges.

Ovary (top arrow). Stigma lobes (bottom arrow).

The plants spread by roots and often occur in clumps.

All photos Mt. Taylor