Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus, Sp. pl. 1: 387-388.  1753.  Lectotype:  Kalm s.n. (specimen 551.3 LINN accd. Reveal et al., 1987).  Images:  Habit (white form).  Habit (red form).
    Monotropa coccinea Zuccarini, Flora. 15(2): 100.  1832.  Type.  Mexico, Karwinski s.n. (holotype, M, n.v.).  Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus subsp. coccinea (Zuccarini) Andres, Verh. Bot. Vereins Prov. Brandenburg 52: 94.  [1910] 1911.  Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus var. coccinea (Zuccarini) Domin, Sitzungsber. Konigl. Bohm. Ges. Wiss. Prag 1915: 5.

    [Monotropa coccinea Zuccarini var. mexicana Lange, Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk Naturhist. Foren. Kjobenhavn 7(19): 119.  1866, nom. nud. based on Karwinski specimen cited above.]

    Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus var. nicaraguensis Lange, Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk   Naturhist. Foren. Kjobenhavn 7(19): 119.  1866.  Type. Nicaragua-Honduras border, Segovia [now Río Coco], Oersted s.n. (type presumably at C).

    Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus var. variegata Andres, Verh. Bot. Vereins Prov. Brandenburg 52: 94.  [1910] 1911.  Type.  Guatemala, no collection cited.

    Monotropa australis Andres, Verh. Bot. Vereins Prov. Brandenburg 52: 94.  [1910] 1911.  Type.  Colombia (given as Bolivia but subsequently corrected by Andres (1913, p. 84); see also Domin (1915, p. 6)), no collection cited.  Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus var. australis (Andres) Domin, Sitzungsber. Konigl. Bohm. Ges. Wiss. Prag 1915: p. 5.


         Inflorescence always with solitary flowers, white to reddish, 5-30 cm high (from root connection), 2-5 mm diam., glabrous;  floral bracts elliptic to ovate 7-20 x 2-10 mm, margins entire or nearly so;  pedicels short at anthesis, often somewhat elongated in fruit;  floral bracts elliptic to ovate 7-20 x 2-10 mm, margins entire or nearly so.  Flowers cylindric;  calyx of 4-5 sepals often similar to petals, to 10 mm long;  corolla of 3-6 imbricate petals, each 10-20 x 5-15 mm, pubescent within, oblong to oblanceolate, broadly saccate at base, rounded to truncate at apices, only slightly, if at all, reflexed at tip;  stamens 8-14, of two series of alternating lengths, 7-15 mm long, bases clasped by elongate, slender, paired, nectariferous lobes;  anthers short, appearing peltate, nearly horizontal at anthesis, to 2 mm diam., dehiscent at first by the ends of a terminal slit, often eventually gaping along the entire length;  ovary 6-12 mm long, 5-9 mm diam, usually glabrous, locules 5-6;  stigma broadly funnelform, 2-6 mm diam., lacking ring of subtending hairs;  style stout, tapering to ovary, 2-7 x 2-5 mm.  Capsule 7-11 x 5-12 mm, perianth may persist in fruit, capsular segments stout, persistent.  Chromosome numbers: n=24; 2n=32, 48.

         Distribution.  In the Neotropics it is disjunct from the primary North American range (Wallace, 1975a), and includes Mexico to SW Colombia;  moist forest of Pinus, Abies, and Quercus at 950-3400 m.  Flowering specimens have been collected in Jun-Feb but are usually found Jun-Sep.