This is one of the daintiest and loveliest of wildflowers. As you hike, look for it in the decaying needles and mosses of dry Spruce forests.  Because the plant most often reproduces from underground roots, it is common to find a number of plants within a few feet of each other. The deep green, waxy, shiny, basal leaves are often more noticeable than the nodding flower head. You will very commonly find Single Delight in the company of other Pyrolaceae, especially One-sided Wintergreen pictured below, and the Orchidaceae Goodyera oblongifolia.

Linnaeus named this species Pyrola uniflora in 1753, Richard Salisbury (1761-1829) created the Moneses genus probably in the late 1700s, Thomas Nuttall renamed Pyrola uniflora to Moneses reticulata in 1843, and Asa Gray gave the present name in 1848.  "Moneses" is a combination of the Greek "monos" ("one") and "hesis" ("delight").

Orthilia secunda is far more common than Moneses uniflora (above) and is often found by the scores at the base of Engelmann and Colorado Blue Spruce along streams and in shady forests.  In the latter habitat it will frequently be found in the company of tiny Moneses uniflora, other Pyrolas, and the Orchidaceae, Goodyera oblongifolia.  In the southwestern San Juans Orthilia secunda is by far the most common of these dainty plants, all of which often escape our attention because of their diminutive size.  All possess delicate, intricate beauty observable when one gets down to their level.

Linnaeus named the genus Pyrola in 1753 and he assigned this species to it as Pyrola secunda.  Constantine Rafinesque created the genus Orthilia in 1840, and Homer House (1878-1949) reassigned the plant to this genus as Orthilia secunda.  The Greek "ortho" ("straight") refers to the style and "secunda" means "side-flowering".

See also Pyrola rotundifolia.