I was thrilled to find this stand of Monotropa uniflora on a hike this morning. The great find was that this sgroup still had the brown seed pods from last year behind it.

This group is freshly emerged so its flowers are still bowed. As the flower matures and gets pollinated its face turns upward. I plan to check these again in a week or so.

Indian Ghost Pipes are non-photosynthetic plants that partner with a fungus to take food from surrounding tree roots. These relationships make it both symbiotic and parasitic second-handedly.

The entire plant looks waxy and translucent. This dappled light was perfect to show its opalescence. The blooms have normal flower parts; petals, stamen and a pistil. These are hard to distinguish because they are small and all the same color.

Lovely find in the forest.

FLOWER