Thelaia sartorii Alefeld, Linnaea 28: 50, t. 1, fig. 6.  1856.  Pyrola sartorii (Alefeld) Hemsley, Biol. centr.-amer., Bot. 2: 283.  1881.  Type.  Mexico.  Veracruz: "Pic d'Orizaba vel Citlatepetl," 2769-3077 m, Sartorius s.n. [holotype, B†;  lectotype, designated by Dorr (1995d):  the illustration accompanying the description].

Pyrola liebmannii Lange, Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk Naturhist. Foren. Kjbenhavn 9: 113, t. 1.  1868 ("liebmanni").  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca: "Cerro de S[an] Felipe p[rope] Oajaca," May 1842 (fl), Liebmann 8656 [lectotype, designated by Dorr (1995d): C;  isolectotypes:  K, US].

Pyrola rotundifolia auct. non Linnaeus: Bentham, Pl. hartw. 66.  1840.

     Herbs or subshrubs, 1.5-3.5 dm tall (to 4.4 dm in fruit).  Leaves lustrous, elliptic, ovate-lanceolate, ovate to widely ovate, or suborbicular, 2-6.5(-7.5) x 1.5-4(-4.7) cm, basally acute and often slightly decurrent on the petiole, apically acute or obtuse, often obscurely mucronate, margin minutely and remotely crenulate, surface discolorous, dark green above, brownish or coppery-red below;  petioles channeled above, smooth, 1.3-6.5 cm long, reddish-brown.  Inflorescences usually solitary, erect, 5-18-flowered;  scape terete, (1.3-)2.1-3.5 dm tall, smooth;  scape bracts membranaceous, subulate to lanceolate, 1.2-2.5 x 0.2-0.4 cm, base auriculate to clasping, apex acute, margin entire to slightly crenate, strongly costate, reddish-brown;  flower-bearing portion of scape 4-11.5 cm tall, elongating in fruit, smooth;  pedicels terete, smooth, 5-9 mm long, elongating in fruit, reddish-brown;  bracts subtending the pedicel membranous, subulate to broadly lanceolate, acute or long-acuminate, longer than the pedicels, 8-12(-15) x 2-3 mm, margin entire to crenulate, reddish-brown, persistent.  Flowers strongly sweet-scented;  calyx 4-6 mm long, the lobes lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or ovate, bases not overlapping, apices acute, acuminate, or obtuse, 3.5-5 x 1.2-2 mm, margin crenate, green (?);  corolla 0.7-1 cm long and 1.4-1.5 cm diam., the petals obovate or obovate-elliptic, 0.8-1.1 x 0.5-0.7 cm, entire to slightly crenate;  stamens 6-8 mm long;  filaments ca. 6 mm long;  anthers 2.2-3 mm long;  tubes 0.2-0.5 mm long;  thecae reddish-brown (?);  ovary subglobose;  style 6-10 mm long, somewhat thickened above;  stigma ca. 1 mm diam.  Capsule 4-5 x 6-8 mm.

     Distribution.  Found on moist, mossy (rarely dry, grassy), N- or NW-facing slopes in Abies-Pinus, Alnus-Pinus, Pinus, and mixed Pinus-Quercus forest in the high mountains of south-central Mexico (the Neovolcanic Belt) and south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the mountains of Chiapas and western Guatemala at elevations of 1700-3400(-3700) m.  Flowering May through Sep;  fruiting Aug through Feb.