Flower:

A single cluster of tiny greenish to creamy white stalked flowers in the center of four large white bracts that look like petals. Flowers have 4 creamy yellow stamens and a dark, reddish brown style in the center. The bracts are broadly oval, tapered to a soft point; typically one pair of opposite bracts is slightly larger than the other pair. The cluster, including bracts, is about ¾ to 1 inch across with a single cluster at the top of the stem.

Leaves and stem:

2 or 3 pairs of leaves, appearing as a whorl of 4 or 6 leaves, is just below the flower cluster, with a few pairs of small to scale-like opposite leaves along the lower stem. Leaves are broadly elliptic to diamond-shaped, 1½ to 3 inches long, toothless and hairless, sometimes wavy around the edges, tapered to a soft point at the tip, tapering at the base to a short stalk. 2 to 3 pairs of laterals veins arise from the base end of the midvein. Usually if whorled in 4s they are all of similar size; if 6, one opposite pair is slightly larger than the other 2 pairs. Stems are unbranched, arsing from creeping woody rhizomes on the ground.

Fruit:

Fruit is a round berry about 3/16 inch across that ripens to bright red.

Notes:

A species of cool, moist woods and bogs, Bunchberry's woody rhizomes can form large dense colonies in northern boreal forests that—both in flower or in fruit—produce stunning arrays.