General: Perennial herb from a slender rhizome; flowering stems 9-25 cm tall, single, with 1 to several leaves at the base or sometimes naked; sterile shoots leafy.
Leaves: Basal, evergreen, somewhat leathery, more or less elliptic to oblong-egg-shaped or circular, the blades 1-3.5 cm long, finely toothed, pale green above, deep green below; stalks usually longer than blades.
Flowers: Inflorescence a (1) 2- to 8- (10) flowered terminal raceme, the flowers 9-13 mm wide, weakly bilaterally symmetric, open; flower stalks 3-8 mm long; bracts linear-lanceolate, usually shorter than stalks; petals pale yellowish to greenish-white, 5-6 mm long, converging; sepals triangular egg-shaped, less than 2 mm long, wider than long, tips blunt; anthers 2-4 mm long, the pore-tubes conspicuous; styles declined, curved, exserted, 4-7 mm long, with a distinct collar below the lobed stigma.
Fruits: Capsules, depressed globe-shaped, to 5 mm wide.
Dry to moist forests in the montane zone; common to frequent throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, infrequent westward; circumboreal, N to AK, YT, and NT, E to NF, and S to CA, AZ, SD, and PA; Eurasia.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Shade-tolerant/intolerant, submontane to subalpine, circumpolar forb (transcontinental in North America). Grows in boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence increases with increasing latitude and decreases with increasing elevation. Species occurs on moderately dry to fresh, nitrogen-medium soils. Widespread and scattered in coniferous forests on water-shedding sites. Usually associated with Hylocomium splendens, Linnaea borealis, and Pleurozium schreberi. Characteristic of friable Mor and acidic Moder humus forms.
