Stems 4-20 cm. Leaves mostly whorled at stem apex, some alternate on proximal stem; blades of distal leaves lanceolate to lanceolate-elliptic, 2.5-10 (-12) cm × 6-45 mm, widest at midlength, (proximal leaves abruptly much smaller, 0.1-0.6 cm × 0.3-1.5 mm, ± scalelike), apex acute to acuminate. Pedicels 1-3(-5), 1.5-4 cm, shorter than leaves, usually sparsely stipitate-glandular. Flowers: corolla white, 5.5-8(-10) mm, lobes ovate to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate. 2n = 96. Flowering summer. Moist to wet coniferous forest, open heath lands, mature northern hardwood forests; 30-1100 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Conn., Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.
Stem 1-2 dm, usually with a small scale-lf near the middle and a whorl of lanceolate, acuminate lvs 4-10 cm at the top; pedicels 1-few, 2-5 cm; sep lance-linear; cor 8-14 mm wide, its lobes slenderly acuminate and mucronate; 2n=96. Rich woods and bogs; Lab. and Nf. to Alta., s. to Pa., n. O., n. Ill., and Minn.; also on the coastal plain from Mass. to Va., and irregularly s. in the Appalachians to n. Ga. May, June. (T. americana)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
