Twinflower

• Twinflower (Linnaea borealis) is a trailing evergreen shrub/subshrub in the honeysuckle family.
• The base is semi-woody and multiple slender stems grow horizontally.
• The stems are leafy with fleshy opposite/paired green (egg-shaped) leaves.
• Short vertical y-shaped stalks are crowned with two pink nodding flowers.
• The flowers are trumpet-shaped and fragrant.
• Photos by the author, except where credits are given. Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption.

twinflower at Lodgepole Lake

twinflower at Stake Lake

twinflower at Adams Lake in June

twinflower

twinflower drawing

Roy Lukes photo

• Small nutlets form after flowering.
• The dry nutlets have a hooked end making it easier to spread.
• Twinflower is found around the world in boreal forests, in forested sub-arctic areas,  and in damp mesic forests.
• We most often encounter twinflower in the Interior Plateau forests to the south and east of Kamloops.    It is absent from the drier areas and the grassland slopes of the area.