Pipsissewa is one of the plants that keeps the forest floor green all year. It is a low, slightly woody evergreen, usually 4 to 12 inches tall, with leathery leaves arranged in whorls around the stem, each one sharply toothed along the edge. It grows scattered through the needle litter of conifer forests, and individual plants can live a long time.
In summer a short stalk rises above the leaves and carries a small cluster of flowers, often five to fifteen. Each flower has five rounded, rose-pink petals that spread open and cup slightly around ten stamens. The flowers turn into round capsules that often stay on the plant through the winter, which makes it easy to identify in any season.
Underground, pipsissewa spreads by long rhizomes that run close to the surface, often in the duff layer above the mineral soil. That shallow habit makes it sensitive to fire. A hot burn that consumes the duff can wipe out a patch, and recovery often depends on a few survivors in unburned spots. It grows best in partial light under an open canopy, and elk eat it in small amounts in the Pacific Northwest.
Look for it in midsummer along forest trails on dry, well-drained ground, where its whorls of evergreen leaves stand out against brown needles.
How to identify it
Low evergreen plant 4 to 12 inches tall with leathery, sharply toothed, narrow leaves 1 to 3 inches long, arranged in whorls. Flowers rose to pink, with five spreading, rounded petals, in a small cluster of about 5 to 15 on a stalk above the leaves. Round capsules often persist through winter.
Look-alikes
Little pipsissewa (Chimaphila menziesii) grows in the same forests but is smaller, usually under 6 inches, with only one to three white or pink-flushed flowers per stalk.
Habitat
Shady to partly open conifer and mixed forests, most often on dry, well-drained, rocky or sandy soils, though it also grows on moister sites. It occurs from low to middle mountain elevations.
Sightings in the forest
446 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 28, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →