Plants rhizomatous, 1-4.5 dm. Leaves: petiole 5-12 mm, channeled adaxially, glabrous; blade not maculate, dull and brownish green or copper-green abaxially, shiny and dark green adaxially, narrowly oblanceolate or oblanceolate, ovate, elliptic, or spatulate, (27-)38-80 × 8-27 mm, base cuneate to decurrent, margins coarsely serrate to crenate-serrate, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences 3-7-flowered; peduncle 1(-2) per stem, 4-10 cm, papillose to hispidulous, sometimes glabrous proximally; inflorescence bracts acicular to linear-lanceolate, free portions shorter than pedicels from which they arise, 2-6 × 0.4-0.6 mm, proximal ones sometimes subcoriaceous, otherwise membranous, margins entire or denticulate distally. Pedicels 17-35 mm. Flowers: calyx lobes spreading or reflexed in fruit, green, yellowish green, or reddish green to purplish with margins hyaline or white, broadly ovate, 1-2.8 × (1.4-)1.8-2.8 mm, margins erose-denticulate, apex rounded to acute; petals white suffused with pink, pink, or rose, broadly ovate to obovate, 4-12 × 4-8 mm, margins erose-denticulate; stamens 5-7 mm; filament base 0.9-1.5 mm wide, dilated basal portion ciliate; anthers 2-3 mm, thecae pink to brownish pink, tubules pink to white, (0.4-)0.8-1.1 mm, abruptly narrowed from thecae, lateral walls not touching, pores 0.1-0.3 × 0.15-0.3 mm; ovary papillose in lines; style 0.1-0.8 mm; stigma 2.4-4 mm wide. Capsules depressed-globose, 4-6 × 6-10 mm. 2n = 26.

Flowering Jul-Aug. Dry, coniferous forests; (50-) 300-2900 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Mexico; West Indies (Hispaniola); Central America (Guatemala); Eurasia.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

An infrequent to rare plant of our northern counties. I have seen no specimen from south of White County. All of our specimens are from moist or dry, sandy black oak or black and white oak woods.