Flower:

Cluster of 1 to 5 flowers at the tip of a stalk arising from leaf axils in the upper half of the plant, the cluster stalk shorter than the attending leaf. 3-flowered clusters are common, with the lateral flowers essentially staminate (male), often dropping off early and only the center flower fertile and persisting to maturity. Flowering plants typically have 1 to a few clusters.

Flowers are about 1/8 inch across, green to purple, star-shaped with 5 triangular, petal-like sepals. In the center is a 5-lobed nectary disk, the lobes alternating with the short, creamy yellow stamens, and a single stubby style in the center. Flower stalks are short; all parts are hairless.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are alternate, 3/8 to 1½ inches long, up to ¾ inch wide, oval-elliptic to narrowly egg-shaped, rounded or blunt at the tip, toothless, hairless, and short-stalked. The veins are initially obscure but may become bright yellow. Stems are erect to ascending, mostly unbranched, hairless and smooth.

Fruit:

Fruit is a round berry-like drupe, ¼ to 1/3 inch diameter with the remains of the sepals at the tip, and ripens to a bright orange or red. Inside is a single seed.

Notes:

Northern Comandra is a parasitic plant, its rootlets attaching to the roots of a wide variety of host plants including spruce, pine, birch, willow, alder, twinflower, bearberry and asters. The inconspicuous flowers, blueberry-like leaves, and relatively short stature make it easily overlooked early in the season, but the bright orange-red fruits are much more eye-catching in late summer. The yellowing of leaf veins is caused by the Comandra blister rust, a fungus affecting about 30 Pinus species (including Jack pine), though according to the USDA Forest Service (see their PDF) it is not as problematic here as it is in the west so the effect may not be often encountered in Minnesota. Northern Comandra is noted as an alternate host for the fungus.