Flower:

A raceme of 3 to 10 hanging flowers on short slender stalks at the top of the stem. Flowers are about ½ inch across with 5 round pale green to greenish white petals, the edges often curled down, and a cluster of yellowish orange stamens under the upper petals. The style is light green, curved down and out below the lower petals like an elephant's trunk.

Leaves:

Leaves are basal, 1-1½ inches long, mostly round, toothless or with shallow rounded teeth, the blade shorter than or equal to the leaf stalk. The upper surface is dull, dark green with prominent light veins.

Notes:

Found only in the northern deep boreal forest, a good place to come across Green-flowered Pyrola is along hiking trails in Itasca, Savanna Portage and any of the state parks in the arrowhead. Like most pyrolas, when you come across them, there are usually a number of flowering plants in a colony. The flowers are much like Shinleaf (Pyrola elliptica) and Round-leaved Pyrola (Pyrola americana) but the dull, dark green leaves with light venation set this species apart. All of the Pyrolas have been move from family Pyrolaceae (Wintergreen) to Ericaceae (Heath).