Sidebells pyrola is a perennial wildflower with single to several erect stems arising from slender branching rootstocks. The stems are leafy below with leafless flower scapes rising 5 -15 cm high. The numerous thin leaves are dull green in color and ovate to elliptical in shape, the tips obtuse to acute. The blades measure 2-4.5 cm long with the slender petioles shorter than to as long as the blades. The blade margins are lined with small rounded teeth or acute teeth that point forward.
The inflorescence is a dense, one-sided raceme with the pedicels which arise on all sides of the stem all turned sharply to one side of the stem. The green calyx lobes are obtuse while the greenish to white petals measure 4-5 mm long. The style is straight and more or less exserted from the corolla. It lacks a collar at its tip. The 10 stamens have inverted anthers.
Sidebells pyrola may be found in coniferous woods from the foothills to middle elevations in the mountains.
Also found in Eurasia, sidebells pyrola may be found from Alaska south to southern California and east to Newfoundland and the Atlantic states. It is found southward through the Rocky Mts. to Mexico.
In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 3000'-4500' from Nesmith Point and Mt. Hamilton in the west eastward to the Little White Salmon River and Mt. Defiance.
