Flower:

A pair of small pink nodding flowers at the top of a slender, hairy stem that is forked near its summit. The funnel shaped flowers have 5 rounded lobes that are whiter than the tube. The flowers are 1/3 to ½ inch long and smooth on the outside but lined with small hairs on the inside. The small calyx holding the flower has 5 narrow lobes, sharply pointed and densely hairy.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are nearly basal but opposite, evergreen, generally oval, 1/3 to 2/3 inch long, ¼ to nearly 2/3 inch wide, toothless or with several shallow teeth at the tip end, sparsely hairy on upper surface, nearly smooth underneath, tapering to a short stalk. Stems are fine, wiry and hairy, creeping along the ground up to six feet, rooting down at the nodes forming large colonial mats.

Notes:

Twinflower is a circumboreal species with 3 varieties in North America; ours in Minnesota is the American variety, var. americana. It is reported to have been a favorite of Carolus Linnaeus, father of bi-nomial nomenclature, after whom it was named.