Twinflower is a delicate, creeping evergreen of boreal forests, named in honor of Carl Linnaeus, who considered it his favorite plant. It produces Y-shaped flower stalks, each bearing a pair of fragrant, nodding, pale-pink bell-shaped flowers. Found across the boreal zone from Alaska across Canada and south in the mountains, it carpets mossy forest floors. Linnaeus had twinflower depicted in his botanical portrait and chose it as his personal symbol.
Habitat
Found in cool, moist coniferous and mixed boreal forests and alpine zones across northern North America.
Diet
Fragrant flowers attract small bees and flies; creeping stems provide cover for small forest floor invertebrates.
How common
Uncommon
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