Inflorescences usually secund racemes, rarely solitary flowers, 5-32 cm; axis yellowish to orange or reddish. Pedicels nodding at anthesis, erect in fruit, (finely hairy or glabrous, sometimes glandular-hairy. Flowers: sepals absent or 4-5, not similar to subtending bracts, spatulate to elliptic, 7-12 × 1-5 mm; petals 4-5, yellowish to orange or reddish, oblong, 8-17 × 4-8 mm, base narrowly saccate, margins ciliate to erose, apex acute to rounded, adaxial surfaces often hairy; nectary lobes 8-10, (paired), stout, not elongate or curved-cylindric; stamens 8-10; filaments sparsely hairy; anthers horizontal at anthesis, horseshoe-shaped, sacs of equal size; ovary 4-8 × 3-6 mm, usually hairy; style 2-10 × 1-2 mm, sparsely hairy; stigma umbilicate, 1.5-3 mm diam., often subtended by ring of crowded hairs. Capsules 4-5-segmented; segments often deciduous after seed dispersal, thin, 6-10 × 4-8 mm, without connecting, pinnate, vascular bundles when open. Seeds 0.5-1 mm, mostly membranously winged. 2n = 48. Flowering spring-fall. Moist to mesic or dry, mixed-deciduous and coniferous forests; 0-4300 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala); Europe; c, e Asia.
Plant: Flowering stems to 30 cm tall, with 1 to usually several flowers, yellowish to orange or reddish, nodding, finely hairy, particularly in upper part of stem, smoothish below. Leaves: no green leaves Flowers: 1 to usually several flowers, with sepals (0-)4-5, these densely hairy inside, sparsely so outside; petals saccate at base, free from sepals; stigma umbilicate, surrounded by a ring of hairs beneath Fruit: FRUITS erect, globular capsules, 4-8 mm wide; SEEDS minute, spindle-shaped Misc: Coniferous forests in rich humus; 2100-2900 m (7000 - 9500 ft); Jul-Aug Notes: Flowering stems to 30 cm tall, yellowish to orange or reddish, nodding, finely hairy, particularly in upper part of stem, smoothish below REFERENCES: Haber, Erich. 1992. Monotropaceae. Ariz.-Nev. Acad. Sci. 26(1)2.