Dainty bell-shaped, creamy-white flowers dangle along one side of a 4–10 inch tall stem. Note the leaves are crowded around the base and may extend along the lower one-third of the stem.

FLOWER: June–August. 3–25 bell-shaped, partially-opened flowers grow on one side of stem; 5 oval petals are greenish to creamy-white; style extends beyond petals.

LEAVES: Alternate to whorls of 34, crowded along lower 1/3 of stem. Blade oval to elliptic 3/4–2 inches long (20–50 mm); margins entire to finely toothed; base and tip rounded to pointed; stem (petiole) channeled, 3/16–3/4 inch long (4–20 mm).

HABITAT: Rocky, sandy, moist to dry soils of forest understory, open areas; spruce-fir-aspen forests.

ELEVATION: 8,200-11,152 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, UT; all states west of Rockies, Great Lake states east to Maine, circumboreal.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Wood Nymph, Moneses uniflora, in much the same range, has a single, nodding flower on the stem tip. The Pyrola species have basal leaves only. Green-flowered Wintergreen,  Pyrola chlorantha, has nodding flowers that spiral around the stem, and pale, creamy green leaves. White-vein Wintergreen, Pyrola picta, has flowers all around the stem, and green basal with prominent white veins. (See Similar Species photos below).

NM COUNTIES: NM mountains in high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Taos.