Single Delight
- Moneses uniflora or one flowered wintergreen is a perennial that grows from rhizomes to a woody base and a stalk of up to 10 cm.
- Evergreen oval thin veined basal leaves cover the base.
- Flowers form on leafless, nodding stalks.
- From above we only see the 5 whitish sepals and petals. To see the underside, we have to turn the flower upward.
- A prominent style has a 5-toothed stigma at the tip. About 10 stamens surround the style.
- This is a delicate, fragrant, solitary, and delightful flower.
- All photos by the author.
- We have run into these wildlflowers in wet forested openings or in creek valleys in areas that retain moisture into the flowering season, mostly in the mountain valleys west of Kamloops.
- After flowering round capsules form and seeds develop for later dispersal.
- This was previously listed as pyrola uniflora.
- Finding these wildflowers is one of the highlights of our early summer hikes