It is usually
found, in company with a few or many of its fellows, in rich
woodlands so far west as the Rocky Mountains, blooming from June
to August, according to the climate of its wide range.
When the little SERRATED or ONE-SIDED WINTERGREEN (P. secunda)
first sends up its slender raceme in June or July, it is erect
but presently the small, greenish-white flowers, opening
irregularly along one side, appear to weigh it downward into a
curve. Usually several bracted scapes rise from a running,
branched rootstock, to a height of from three to (rarely) ten
inches above a cluster of basal evergreen leaves. These latter
are rather thin, oval, slightly pointed, wavy or slightly
saw-edged, the midrib prominent above and below. A peculiarity of
the flowers is, that their petals are partially welded together
into little bells, with the clapper (alias the straight green
pistil) protruding, and the stamens united around its base. After
the blossoms have been fertilized, the tiny, round,
five-scalloped seed capsules, with the pistil still protruding,
remain in evidence for months, as is usual in the pyrola clan.
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