| Author | Sweet | |
| Distribution | Nearly throughout the northern half of the Piedmont, and the northern Mountains. An isolated record from Bladen County, in the southern Coastal Plain.
This is a Northern species ranging across southeastern Canada, south to central NC, but scarce farther west; ranges west only to extreme northeastern TN and central OH. | |
| Abundance | Rare to uncommon, with abundance decreasing southward. That is, uncommon in VA border counties, but quite rare in counties not bordering VA. It is on the NC NHP Watch List. | |
| Habitat | This species at times grows with one or both of the Chimaphila species, in fairly dry, upland hardwood or pine forests. The soils are typically acidic, as well; it does not normally grow in rich soils. |
| Phenology | Blooms mainly in May and June, perhaps into July in the mountains; fruits from July to October. | |
| Identification | This is an evergreen subshrub, with several basal leaves and a single flowering stalk growing to an average of 10 inches tall. The leaves are dark green and leathery, rotund/rounded, entire on the margins, and about 2-3 inches long and across. The stalk contains 5-15 dangling small white flowers, each about 2/5-inch across. Though quite striking when in bloom, sadly flowering individuals are very difficult to encounter; the species is rather rare in the state, and because the leaves are evergreen and thus visible all year, a person is likely to find the species with the basal leaves only, or a fruiting stalk. Though the leaves are quite distinct, some people may overlook the species as Galax aphylla, which has leaves that are scalloped and not entire. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | RAB (1968) and other older references considered this taxon as Pyrola rotundifolia var. americana. However, the species has been named as Pyrola americana for many decades now.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Rounded Shinleaf, American Shinleaf, Round-leaved Pyrola | |
| State Rank | S2S3 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | W1 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACU link |
| USACE-emp | FAC link |
