pipsissewa

not listed

N5 - Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Pipsissewa is a low, slow growing, evergreen, dwarf shrub. It is native to North America from Nova Scotia south to South Carolina and west to Minnesota. In Minnesota it is common in the northeast and central regions, uncommon in the metro and southeast regions, and absent from the southwest region and the western counties. It requires rich, undisturbed soil covered by a layer of leaves or needles. Logging or even compressing the soil by walking on it are threats to this plant.

Pipsissewa is an erect, perennial dwarf shrub (subshrub) that rises on one or a few stems from an underground, creeping, horizontal stem (rhizome). It can be 4″ to 18″ (10 to 45 cm) tall but it is usually no more than 9″ (23 cm) in hight in Minnesota. It often forms small, sometimes dense and mat-like colonies.

The stems are erect and hairless. They usually have 2 to 4 short, spreading branches. The branches elongate each year. After several years, they recline on the ground and produce roots where a node touches the ground.

The leaves are arranged mostly in whorls of 3 to 8, sometimes as opposite pairs. They are on 1⁄16″ to ½″ (2 to 12 mm) long leaf stalks (petioles). The petioles are hairless and are grooved above. The leaf blade is inversely lance-shaped to narrowly inversely egg-shaped (widest near the base), sometimes narrowly elliptic (widest in the middle), 1½″ to 3″ (38 to 80 mm) long, and 5⁄16″ to 11⁄16″ (8 to 27 mm) wide. They are narrowly angled or tapered at the base and narrowly or broadly angled at the tip. The upper surface is dark green, shiny, and hairless. The lower surface is pale green, brownish-green or copperish-green, dull, and hairless. The midvein is depressed on the upper surface, raised on the lower surface. The margins are coarsely toothed, especially from the middle to the tip of the blade, with sharp, forward pointing teeth.

The inflorescence is a branched cluster (corymb) of 3 to 7 flowers at the end of an upright, 1½″ to 4″ (4 to 10 cm) long inflorescence stalk (peduncle). The peduncle is leafless and is covered with tiny bumps (pappilose). It rises well above the uppermost leaves. Each flower droops downward at the end of a ⅝″ to 1⅜″ (17 to 35 mm) long flower stalk (pedicel).

The flowers are saucer shaped and ⅜″ to ½″ in diameter. There are 5 outer floral leaves (sepals), 5 petals, 10 stamens, and 1 style. The sepals (together the calyx) are broadly egg-shaped, 1⁄32″to ⅛″ (1 to 3 mm) long, and 1⁄16″to ⅛″ (2 to 3 mm) wide. They are green, yellowish-green, or reddish-green with papery white margins. The petals are broadly egg-shaped or inversely egg-shaped, ⅛″ to ½″ (4 to 12 mm) long, and ⅛″ to 5⁄16″ (4 to 8 mm) wide. They are white tinged with pink or rose. The stamens have white, 3⁄16″ to ¼″ (5 to 7 mm) long stalks (filaments), and pink to brownish-pink anthers. The ovary is green and depressed globe-shaped. The style is very short, less than 1⁄32″ (1 mm) long. It is capped by a green, ⅛″ to 3⁄16″ wide stigma.

The fruit is a flattened globe-shaped, ⅛″ to ¼″ (4 to 6 mm) long, ¼″ to ⅜″ (6 to 10 mm) in diameter capsule. The fruits are held erect and persist into the following spring.

4″ to 9″

White tinged with pink or rose

Dry. Coniferous and deciduous forests. Partial sun. Sandy soil.

Early to late July

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Common

Subfamily
Some sources, including GRIN and Flora of North America, place the tribe Pyroleae in the subfamily Monotropoideae. Others, including NCBI and the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, place Pyroleae in the subfamily Pyroloideae.

Subspecies
There are four subspecies of Chimaphila umbellata. One subspecies occurs in Europe and Asia, three in North America, and just one, ssp. cisatlantica, in Minnesota. Some authors do not recognize ssp. cisatlantica, treating it as a synonym for ssp. umbellata. Most authors recognize ssp. cisatlantica as the subspecies occurring in northeast North America, with ssp. umbellata restricted to Europe and Asia.

Plant

Leaves

Infructescence

Location: Cass County