Sidebells Wintergreen

Foodplant / parasite
telium of Pucciniastrum pyrolae parasitises live Orthilia secunda

Usually found under conifers (pines or junipers) from 3100-4000 m. Fairly common in the Northern regions of Pakistan. The leaves are medicinal and used in the treatment of wounds and as a brew.

Shrubs evergreen, herbaceous. Rhizome long creeping, slender, 0.5–1 mm in diam., woody, branched. Stems erect or ascending, 2–10 cm, 0.8–1.5 mm in diam., simple, angular, longitudinally minutely papillose. Leaves in 1–3 subverticils of 2–4 each, alternating with 5–7 scales; petiole 1–2 cm, minutely papillose; leaf blade pale green abaxially, light green adaxially, oblong-ovate to broadly ovate or elliptic, 2.2–3.7 × 1.4–2.6 cm, thinly leathery to herbaceous, abaxially glabrous, adaxially slightly shiny, base obtuse to truncate, margin crenulate-serru-late, apex acute to subobtuse or mucronulate. Scape 7–14 cm tall, slender, 0.4–1 mm in diam., loosely and minutely papillose, angled; scales 5–8 at middle and base, narrowly ovate or broadly lanceolate, 2–5 mm. Raceme with 8–15 rather densely arranged flowers along one side. Bracts broadly oblanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 3–5 mm, membranous, somewhat hyaline-margined, apex abruptly acute. Pedicel ca. 3 mm, slender, rather prominently papillose. Sepals overlapping at base, depressed-orbicular, 0.8–1 mm, margin minutely toothed, apex obtuse. Petals erect, greenish white, 3–5 mm. Anthers 1–1.5 mm, apex truncate; pores 0.3–0.4 mm wide. Style exserted, straight or slightly curved, ca. 4 mm; stigma peltate with 5 shallow lobes. Capsules 5-angular, ca. 4 mm in diam. Seeds with thin testa prolonged at both ends, fusiform to oblong; testa generally with 6–8 cells along longest axis. Fl. Jul–Aug, fr. Sep–Oct. 2n = 38.

Perennial, glabrous. Stem creeping, slender, branched. Lamina elliptic-ovate to ovate, 20-30 x 14-21 mm, serrulate or crenulate, acute (or with a short mucro), under surface pale, nerves prominent. Petiole shorter than the lamina. Scales ovate-acuminate, 3-6 mm long. Scape slender, 6-11-flowered. Scape scales 2-3, similar to the cauline ones. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, 2-4 mm long. Pedicels at anthesis ± size of the bracts, minutely papillose. Flowers drooping. Calyx lobes orbicular-oblong, 1.5-2 x 1.5 mm, margin ± denticulate. Petals ± oblong, 4.5-5 mm long, denticulate. Filaments subulate, 3.5 mm long, base dilated; anthers 2 mm long, minutely papillose, pore tubes absent, pores wide. Ovary 5-lobed, 2-2.5 mm broad, globose and slightly depressed. Style fleshy, stout, 3-4.5 mm long, erect, exserted; stigma 5-lobed. Capsule 5-5.5 mm broad, nodding; seeds as in Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. karakoramica.

Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [Japan, Kashmir, N Korea, Mongolia, Russia; widely distributed in N temperate and subarctic zones].

Distribution: N. temperate regions of Europe, USSR and C. & Eastern Asia, & N. America.

Fl. Per.: June-July.

Deciduous broad-leaved or subalpine coniferous forests; sea level to 3200 m.

Ramischia elatior (Lange) Rydberg, sp. nov
Actinocyclus secundus elatior I^ange, Vidensk. Meddel. 1867; 115. 1868.
Perennial, with a creeping rootstock; stems above ground 3-10 cm. high, suffrutescent, bearing 3-6 leaves; petioles 1-2 cm. long; leaf-blades lanceolate or lance-elliptic, 1-5 cm. long, very acute, sharply serrate, firmer than in the preceding species; scape 1.5-3 dm. high, with 2-4 scales; raceme 10-18-flowered, secund; bracts linear, fully as long as the i^exed pedicels; sepals triangular, obtuse, as broad as long; petals elliptic, 5 mm. long, whitish; anthers fully 1.5 mm. long; style 3-4 mm, long.
Type locality: La Hoya, Vera Cruz. Distribution : Mount Orizaba and vicinity.

Ramischia secunda (L.) Garcke, Fl. Deuts. ed. 4. 222,
Pyrola secunda LSp. PI. 396. 1753.
Ramischia secundifiora Opiz, Seznam 82. 1852.
Actinocyclus secundus Klotzsch, Monats. Akad. Berlin 1857: 14. 1857.
Pyrola secunda pumila Paine, Cat. PI. Oneida Co. 135. 1865.
Perennial, with a long creeping rootstock; stems above ground more or less subligneous, 1-10 cm. high, bearing 1-4 leaves; petioles 1-2 cm. long; leaf-blades evergreen, but rather thin, shining, bright-green, finely serrulate, ovate or rarely oval, acute or rarely rounded at the apex, 1-5 cm. long; scape 1-2 dm. high, with 1-4 scales; raceme short, nodding, 6-17flowered; bracts subulate-ovate, sUghtly shorter than the pedicels; sepals oval or elliptic, 1 mm. long, rounded at the apex; petals oblong or elliptic, 4-5 mm. long, erect, greenishwhite ; anthers 1-1.5 mm. Ipng; style about 4 mm. long; capsule subglobose, 4 mm. in diameter.
Type locawty: Woods of northern Europe.
Distribution: Woods, from Labrador and Newfoundland to New Jersey, South Dakota, New Mexico, California, and Alaska; also in Europe and northern Asia.

Orthilia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. It has only one species, Orthilia secunda. Its common names are sidebells wintergreen, one-sided-wintergreen and serrated-wintergreen. It is also called one-sided pyrola, one-sided shinleaf, and one-sided wintergreen. It was previously part of genus Pyrola, the wintergreens.

The plant has a circumboreal distribution, growing throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere.

The American wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, belongs to a different genus.