Single delight, wax-flower, one-flowered wintergreen, wood nymph • Moneses uniflora
{Moneses = solitary delight}
Single delight in moist, forested areas of Calvert Island. The bottom left photo shows a flower bud just before it bloomed. This plant's tendency to grow in rotting wood, decomposing leaf litter, and moss cover is evident in these photos by (clockwise from top right) Kelly Fretwell, Wiebe Nijland, Gillian Harvey, Sarein Basi-Primeau, and Brian Starzomski.
Identification
When in flower, this perennial plant can be easily identified by the solitary white flower at the top of a single stem, growing 10-30 cm tall. The white flower is waxy, has 5 petals and prominent reproductive parts, and is around 2 cm across. The mostly basal leaves are egg-shaped, thin, toothed, and 1-3 cm long.
Habitat & Range
Single delight usually inhabits moist coniferous forests from low to middle elevations, often growing in rotting wood, decomposing organic matter, or moss cover. This circumboreal species is found across much of North America and Eurasia.
Similar Species
When not in flower, single delight can be confused with one-sided wintergreen, but the leaves of single delight are usually smaller, more toothed, and more veined than the wintergreen. Wintergreen has stem as well as basal leaves, though the stem leaves may be bunched near the base. Its leaves are usually more rounded than those of single delight.
Human Uses
Single delight has extensive uses in some coastal First Nations cultures. It is a traditional medicinal treatment of the Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, and Makah. A a tea made by the Haida and Makah combined single delight with other plants like licorice-fern and Labrador tea.
Antibiotic properties have been discovered in extracts from single delight stems and leaves; these properties appear to work against multiple organisms, including the one that causes tuberculosis.
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/60376-Moneses-uniflora
When in flower, this perennial plant can be easily identified by the solitary white flower at the top of a single stem, growing 10-30 cm tall. The white flower is waxy, has 5 petals and prominent reproductive parts, and is around 2 cm across. The mostly basal leaves are egg-shaped, thin, toothed, and 1-3 cm long.
Habitat & Range
Single delight usually inhabits moist coniferous forests from low to middle elevations, often growing in rotting wood, decomposing organic matter, or moss cover. This circumboreal species is found across much of North America and Eurasia.
Similar Species
When not in flower, single delight can be confused with one-sided wintergreen, but the leaves of single delight are usually smaller, more toothed, and more veined than the wintergreen. Wintergreen has stem as well as basal leaves, though the stem leaves may be bunched near the base. Its leaves are usually more rounded than those of single delight.
Human Uses
Single delight has extensive uses in some coastal First Nations cultures. It is a traditional medicinal treatment of the Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, and Makah. A a tea made by the Haida and Makah combined single delight with other plants like licorice-fern and Labrador tea.
Antibiotic properties have been discovered in extracts from single delight stems and leaves; these properties appear to work against multiple organisms, including the one that causes tuberculosis.
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/60376-Moneses-uniflora
References
Fertig, W. Wood Nymph (Moneses uniflora). Plant of the Week. USDA Forest Service. Accessed 06/01/2016.
Moneses uniflora (L.) A. Gray. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed on 29/03/2012.
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (2005). Plants of Coastal British Columbia, Revised. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 224.
Authors and editors of page
Chanda Brietzke, Kelly Fretwell, and Brian Starzomski (2016).
Fertig, W. Wood Nymph (Moneses uniflora). Plant of the Week. USDA Forest Service. Accessed 06/01/2016.
Moneses uniflora (L.) A. Gray. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed on 29/03/2012.
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (2005). Plants of Coastal British Columbia, Revised. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 224.
Authors and editors of page
Chanda Brietzke, Kelly Fretwell, and Brian Starzomski (2016).