Small as the plant is, it has managed to distribute itself over
Europe, Asia, and the woods and thickets of our own land from
Labrador to Alaska, southward to California, Mexico, and the
District of Columbia.
Another little globe-trotter, so insignificant in size that one
is apt to overlook it until its surprisingly large blossom
appears in June or July, is the ONE-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN (Moneses
uniflora), found in cool northern woods, especially about the
roots of pines, in such yielding soil as will enable its long
stem to run just below the surface. ONE-FLOWERED PYROLA, it is
often called, although it belongs to a genus all its own. A
boldly curved stalk, like a miniature Bo-peep crook, enables the
solitary white or pink widely open flower to droop from the tip,
thus protecting its precious contents from rain, and from
crawling pilferers, to whom a pendent blossom is as inaccessible
as a hanging bird's nest is to snakes. This five-petalled waxen
flower, half an inch across or over, with its ten white,
yellow-tipped stamens, and green, club-shaped pistil projecting
from a conspicuous round ovary, never nods more than six inches
above the ground, often at only half that height.
Pages:
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558