Pyrola minor

Pyrola minor
Conservation status
Secure (NatureServe)1
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Embryophytes
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Spermatophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Pyrola
Species:	P. minor
Binomial name
Pyrola minor L.

Pyrola minor, known by the common names snowline wintergreen,² lesser wintergreen, and common wintergreen, is a plant species of the genus Pyrola. It is a perennial herb or subshrub growing up to 1 ft (0.30 m) tall.³ It has a Circumboreal distribution and can be found throughout the northern latitudes of Eurasia and North America.⁴ It grows in moist areas.⁵ Flowers bloom June to August.⁵ The plant is mostly self-pollinating; it does not even bother to attract pollinators with the scent of its flowers or by secreting nectar.⁶

It is a sclerophyll, with leaves that appear in rosettes.⁶ The blades are 2-5 cm wide⁶ and simple and basal in arrangement.⁴ They are quite thin, broadly elliptic with a round or abruptly tapering tip. The leaf-stalk is usually shorter than the blade. The spherical flowers are nodding, 5-7 mm wide. The sepals are triangular. Gynoecia are inside the flower, with a short style.⁶ Flowers have five petals that are pale pink to rose in color.⁵ The fruit of the flower are nodding 5-segmented capsules; the style of the gynoecia are preserved at the tip of the capsule.⁶