Pyrola picta

White-veined wintergreen

Family: Ericaceae · Type: perennial · Native

White-veined wintergreen is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, San Jacinto Mountains, and Modoc Plateau in moist to dry mixed conifer forests, Pinus woodlands, and volcanic areas at elevations of 400 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces delicate cream-white to pink flowers that bloom in clusters of 5 to 25 blossoms. Growing with slender stems up to 35 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive rosettes of leaves. Its leaves are dark green with striking white veining, typically ovate to obovate, measuring 2.5 to 7 centimeters long and occasionally showing purple tones underneath. The flower petals are 5 to 7 millimeters long, creating an elegant and subtle woodland presence.

Habitat: Moist to dry mixed conifer forests, Pinus woodlands, volcanic areas, occasionally on decomposed granite

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 400-2400 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, SnFrB, SCoRO, SnBr, PR, SnJt, MP

California counties: Humboldt, Mariposa, San Bernardino, Siskiyou, Lake, Tuolumne, Fresno, Tulare, Mendocino, Calaveras, Plumas, Alpine, Amador, El Dorado, Sierra, Trinity, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Butte, Placer, Kern, Madera, Shasta, Riverside, San Diego, Nevada, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Sonoma, Tehama, Glenn, Stanislaus, San Mateo, Colusa, Marin, Del Norte, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Inyo, Ventura

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.