Wax-flower wintergreen or shinleaf, pyrole elliptique

Plants rhizomatous, 1.1-2.7(-3) dm. Leaves: petiole (8-)12-40 mm, channeled adaxially, glabrous; blade not or, rarely, obscurely maculate, dull and light green abaxially, shiny and dark green, rarely with white tissue bordering larger veins adaxially, broadly elliptic to oblong or oblong-obovate, 12-80 × (8-)11-57 mm, subcoriaceous, base decurrent or acute to rounded, margins crenulate or obscurely denticulate, apex obtuse to rounded. Inflorescences 1(-2) per stem, 3-14(-21)-flowered; peduncular bracts absent or 1-2(-4), subulate to linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, 3.5-10 × 0.5-1.2 mm, membranous, margins entire; inflorescence bracts subulate to narrowly lanceolate, usually shorter than or, rarely, longer than subtended pedicels, (2-)2.5-10 × 0.3-1 mm, membranous. Pedicels 3-8 mm. Flowers: calyx lobes appressed or spreading in fruit, green or pinkish with margins hyaline to white, deltate to deltate-ovate, 1.2-2.1(-2.6) × 1.2-1.9(-2.3) mm, margins entire or obscurely erose-denticulate, apices acute to short-acuminate; petals white to greenish white, obovate, 6-8.8(-10) × 3-5.4 mm, margins entire or obscurely erose-denticulate; stamens 4-6 mm; filament base 0.6-0.9 mm wide; anthers 2.2-3.5 mm, apiculations 0.1-0.4 mm, thecae creamy white or tan, tubules yellowish brown, 0.3-0.6 mm, gradually narrowed from thecae, lateral walls touching for most of their lengths or connivent distally, pores 0.1-0.2 × 0.1-0.2 mm; ovary smooth; style exserted, 5-7 mm; stigma 0.7-1.2(-1.5) mm wide, lobes erect. Capsules depressed-globose, 3-5 × 3.7-6.6 mm. 2n = 46.

Flowering Apr-Jul. Dry, upland forests; 10-1700 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ariz., Conn., Del., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.