Cross-shaped Mitrewort, Side-flowered Mitrewort, Smallflower Miterwort
Ozomelis stauropetala
Synonyms: Mitella stauropetala, Mitella stauropetala var. stauropetala, Mitella stenopetala, Ozomelis stauropetala
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Photo
at right of cross-shaped Mitrewort, FS Rd 64 near Rd 6437, Umatilla N.F.........June
27, 1998.Cross-shaped or five-stamened mitrewort is one of the easier mitreworts to identify because the inflorescence is strongly situated on one side of the stem (See photos.). It is a perennial with several leafless stems to 50 cm in height above a cluster of basal leaves. The herbage is glandular hairy above and may be coarsely haired below. The leaves are heart- or kidney-shaped with 5-7 lobes which are toothed. The lobes may be readily apparent, or may be hard to distinguish. The leaves are green and may have a purplish tinge, and are 2-8 cm wide and with a shorter length.
The racemes are 10-35 flowered, with the blooms on one side of the stem. The flowers bloom upwards on the stem. The green to greenish-white or purplish calyx is bell-shaped and 4-6 mm long with oblong or oblong-obovate lobes. The petals are white or purplish and from 2-4 mm long. They spread perpendicular to the calyx, and are narrowly 3-lobed (See photo above.). The 5 stamens are opposite the sepals.
Cross-shaped mitrewort may be found in open to dense woods which are moist, or on shaded, moist rocky slopes.
Cross-shaped mitrewort may be found from Spokane and Asotin Counties in eastern Washington south to the Blue, Wallowa, and Ochoco Mts. of north central and northeastern Oregon, and east to the Rocky Mts. of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.
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The photo at left shows a close-up sideview of the flower of cross-shaped mitrewort as seen along Forest Road #4650 at the eastern side of Chief Joseph Canyon in the northern Wallowa-Whitman National Forest........June 26, 2008. Note the funnel-shaped calyx and numerous glandular hairs on the stem. The photo at right shows the raceme of cross-shaped mitrewort as seen along the North Fork Catherine Creek Trail #1905 about a quarter of a mile upstream of the first crossing of North Fork Catherine Creek, Eagle Cap Wilderness.......June 12, 2018.
The photo above shows a close-up of the basal leaf of cross-shaped mitrewort as seen along Forest Road #4650 at the eastern side of Chief Joseph Canyon in the northern Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.........June 26, 2008.
