Inflorescences 1.5-17 dm , glandular-hirsute; bracts 2-3.5 × 0.5-1 cm, scarious at maturity. Flowers: sepals 4-6 × 2-3 mm; corolla 6-9 mm, base not saccate, lobes reflexed, rounded to blunt; stamens 3-5 mm; anthers horizontal at anthesis, ca. 1 mm diam., awns to 1.5 mm; ovary 3-4 × 4-6 mm, glabrous; style 1-3 × 1 mm; stigma yellowish, ca. 1.5 mm diam. Capsules persistent, thin-segmented, remaining connate at apex, 5-10 × 7-14 mm. Seeds 0.2-0.5 mm including wing. 2n = 16, 48. Flowering summer. Moist to dry, often deep humus of mixed-deciduous or coniferous forests (sometimes on calcareous substrates); 60-3700 m; Alta., B.C., N.B., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mich., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.Mex., N.Y., Oreg., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Vt., Wash., Wyo.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León).

Plant: Perennial, mycotrophic herb; Flowering stems erect, fleshy, reddish-brown, densely glandular-hairy, 1-several from a dense spherical root mass, to 1 m tall, the inflorescence terminal Leaves: no green leaves INFLORESCENCE: terminal; bracts triangular, overlapping, clustered near base of stem, becoming reduced linear-lanceolate and scattered above, merging with the inflorescence bracts Flowers: nodding, whitish, yellow or pink, numerous in an elongate, open raceme-like inflorescence, at times clustered in groups of 2-5; sepals 5, separate, linear-lanceolate, glandular, to 5 mm long; corolla fused, urn-shaped, persistent, the lobes 5, reflexed; stamens 10, the filaments smooth; anthers ovoid with two recurved awns the length of the sacs; pollen grains four-grooved, many aborted; style short, columnar; stigma capitate, obscurely 5-lobed Fruit: FRUITS 5-locular, nodding, depressed-globose capsules, 8-12 mm wide; SEEDS ovoid, tapered to one end, with 5 ribs and a conspicuous rounded wing larger than the seed body Misc: Coniferous, especially pine, forests; 1800-2900 m (6000-9500 ft); Jun-Aug REFERENCES: Haber, Erich. 1992. Monotropaceae. Ariz.-Nev. Acad. Sci. 26(1)2.