Pyrola elliptica (Common Shinleaf) - photos and description
General: Plants with a single scape rising from a basal rosette of leaves. Plants rhizomatous, glabrous.
Flowers: Grow in a cylindric raceme, white, fragrant. We measured a flower at 12 mm in diameter. The styles are curved and protrude out of the corolla.
Leaves: Leaves are basal, oblong to spatulate, blade is longer than the petiole. Leaf highlighted in photo above was 5.5 cm long, 3.5 cm wide, and had a petiole of 2.0 cm long.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 30 cm, we measured plants to 23 cm tall.
Habitat: Moist, rich woodlands.
Abundance: Ranked as common (S5) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. Uncommon in our experience.
Origin: Native.
How to identify this species of Pyrola: Leaf blades broadly elliptical to oblong, and, the leaf petioles are shorter in length than the leaf blades. Begins flowering 3-4 weeks after similar species Pyrola asarifolia, and Pyrola chlorantha.
When and where photographed: Photos taken on July 20th in mixed woods Cypress Hills about 425 km southwest of Regina, SK, and on July 27th, at locations northwest and northeast of Hudson Bay, SK, each about 450 km northeast of our home in Regina, SK.