This bright magenta flower brightens the forest floor in May. It stems from a creeping rhizome and grows low to the ground. The flowers have five sepals and three petals, two of the sepals are wing-like. Of the three petals, two form a tubular structure. The third is a keel petal cresting in a pink fringe. This plant is sometimes mistaken for a wintergreen because its upper leaves are clustered at the top of the stem and are ovate in shape.