Twin Flower

Linnaea borealis
Caprifoliaceae/Honeysuckle Family

Twin flower grows in forests, bogs and rocky shorelines. The leaves grow from a trailing stem and are firm, rounded with few teeth near the tip and are 1cm long. The flowering stems are 3-4" tall and have 2 pinkish-white, bell-shaped flowers on the end. These beautiful flowers produce one of the most fragrant perfumes in the forest.

This species was supposedly one of the favorite flowers of Linnaeus, the Swedish "father" of taxonomy. Linnaeus created the binomial system of genus and species that we use today to identify plants. His benefactor Gronovius in 1737 named this plant after him. The species borealis means "northern".