11 July 2015
Here are some pink flowers you don’t see every day.
Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) is a parasite in a three-way relationship. It’s lives on a symbiotic fungus that gets its own food from tree roots in exchange for mineral nutrients.
Since Indian pipe doesn’t need chlorophyll the plant is ghostly white and can live in the deep shade of a dense forest. When Indian pipe blooms the flowers droop downward.
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But as soon as they’re fertilized the flowers move into the heads up position. Esther Allen taught us that this helps the plant disperse its seeds.
Most plants have erect flowers that nod when fertilized. Indian pipe is backwards in many ways.
Learn more about Indian pipe in this article from the Arkansas Native Plant Society.
(heads up photo by Kate St. John. Heads down photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the photo to see the original)
We saw a lot of these out at Hartwood Acres about two weeks ago.
Hmmm, I am curious if more research has been done on seed dispersal for this species.
Mark, the Arkansas Native Plants link has more to say about the seeds.
They’re “ectomycotrophs,” parasitizing the SYMBIOTIC (mycorrhizal) plant/mushroom relationship.
Thank you, Lily. I corrected the text.