Location:
Western Mountain Connector Trail, Acadia National Park
Monotropa uniflora, also known as the ghost plant, Indian pipe, or corpse plant, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to temperate regions of Udmurtiya in European Russia, Asia, North America and northern South America, but with large gaps between areas.
It is often brought in to forays and by students thinking it must be a fungus - because it’s white and doesn’t have any chlorophyll. But it’s really a flowering plant– in the blueberry family!
Instead of generating energy from sunlight, it is parasitic, more specifically a myco-heterotroph. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from photosynthetic trees. Since it is not dependent on sunlight to grow, it can grow in very dark environments as in the understory of dense forest.
Western Mountain Connector Trail, Acadia National Park