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Indian Pipe
Monotropa uniflora is commonly called "Indian pipe", a name which reflects the overall shape of the mature plant: a single stem with a prominent distal bend and expanded, flowered tip.
- This fascinating plant (Monotropa uniflora) is definitely one of nature’s weird wonders. Because it has no chlorophyll and doesn’t depend on photosynthesis, this ghostly white plant is able to grow in the darkest of forests. Many people refer to this strange plant as Indian pipe fungus, but it is not a fungus at all – it just looks like one. It is actually a flowering plant, and believe it or not, it is a member of the blueberry family.Each Indian pipe plant consists of one 3- to 9-inch (7.5 to 23 cm.) stem. Although you may notice small scales, no leaves are required because the plant does not photosynthesize.A white or pinkish-white, bell-shaped flower, which appears sometime between late spring and fall, is pollinated by small bumblebees. Once the bloom is pollinated, the “bell” creates a seed capsule that eventually releases tiny seeds into the wind. For obvious reasons, Indian pipe is also known as “ghost plant” – or sometimes “corpse plant”. Although there is not an Indian pipe fungus, Indian pipe is a parasitic plant that survives by borrowing nutrients from certain fungi, trees and decaying plant matter. This complicated, mutually beneficial process allows the plant to survive.
America’s eminent poet, Emily Dickinson, called the Indian pipe “the preferred flower of life.” In a letter to Mabel Todd, she confides, “I still cherish the clutch with which I bore it from the ground when a wondering child, and unearthly bòò†ÿ, and maturity only enhances the mystery, never decreases it.”
excerpt from: GardeningKnowHow/BeautifulMotherNature
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