Jan Rothe
The Ghost Pipe - a plant without chlorophyll
When I first encountered this plant I had no idea what it was - except that I could somehow see that it was not a mushroom. Indeed, it wasn't one. Instead, Monotropa uniflora is a chlorophyll-less plant, which gets its nutrients as a parasite on fungi (which in turn live on plant roots). This relationship between plant and fungus is also referred to as Myco-heterotrophy and can also be found in some Orchid species. The ghost pipe is related to a similar species that also grows in Europe - Monotropa hypopitys, Fichtenspargel in German.
The Ghost Pipe - a plant without chlorophyll
When I first encountered this plant I had no idea what it was - except that I could somehow see that it was not a mushroom. Indeed, it wasn't one. Instead, Monotropa uniflora is a chlorophyll-less plant, which gets its nutrients as a parasite on fungi (which in turn live on plant roots). This relationship between plant and fungus is also referred to as Myco-heterotrophy and can also be found in some Orchid species. The ghost pipe is related to a similar species that also grows in Europe - Monotropa hypopitys, Fichtenspargel in German.