General: Perennial, slightly woody herb from a rhizome, often forming colonies; stems usually single,
5-20 cm tall.
Leaves: Evergreen, basal and stem leaves, often crowded towards base, egg-shaped to egg-shaped elliptic,
1.5-6 cm long, 1-2.5 (3) cm wide; round- to sharp-toothed or nearly entire, blunt to rounded at base, tips usually pointed; stalks 1-2 cm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence a crowded 4- to 20-flowered one-sided raceme, arching, flowers radially symmetric,
erect in bud, drooping in flower, 5-6 mm wide; flower stalks 2-8 mm long; bracts linear-lanceolate;
petals 5, distinct, somewhat closed, 4-6 mm long, greenish or white, each with 2 small tubercles on the
inner surface near the base; sepals 5, 0.5-1 (1.5) mm long, with jagged margins; stamens 10; filaments
slender, about equaling the petals; anthers about 1.4 mm long, with terminal pores, tubes lacking; styles
3-4 mm long, exserted, straight or nearly so; stigmas 5-lobed.
Fruits: Capsules, depressed globe-shaped, to 5 mm wide.
Notes: Two varieties occur in BC:
1. Racemes mostly more than 10-flowered; petals greenish yellow; leaves elliptic to egg-shaped, pointed, and
lustrous .......................................... var. secunda
1. Racemes usually 4- to 10-flowered; petals creamy white; leaves circular, blunt, and hardly lustrous ..........
.......................................... var. obtusata Turcz.
Dry to mesic forests in the lowland, montane, and subalpine zones; frequent in SC BC, common elsewhere in BC; circumboreal, N to AK, YT, and NT, E to NF and S to S CA, MX, SD, OH, and VA; 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)
A shade-tolerant. submontane to subalpine, circumpolar forb (transcontinental in North America). Occurs on moderately dry to fresh, nitrogen-poor soils within boreal, cool temperate, and cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence increases with increasing latitude and precipitation. Widespread in closed-canopy coniferous forests on water-shedding sites. Usually associated with Hylocomium splendens, Paxistima myrsinites, Rhytidiopsis robusta, Vaccinium alaskaense, V. membranaceum, and V. ovalifolium). An oxylophytic species characteristic of Mor humus forms.
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Orthilia secunda subsp. obtusata (Turcz.) Böcher Orthilia secunda var. obtusata (Turcz.) House Pyrola secunda L. Pyrola secunda subsp. obtusata (Turcz.) Hultén Pyrola secunda var. obtusata Turcz. Ramischia elatior Rydb. Ramischia secunda (L.) Garcke
