Phantom Orchid
Phantom orchid, Cephalanthera austiniae.
Lincoln Park, Seattle, Washington State, June 26, 2013.
This orchid is rare and getting rarer, preferring deep, moist forests, and it's extraordinary to find it here in the city. But, according to the UW's Burke Museum, one of the university's seven reference specimens was collected in Lincoln Park in 1937. If you see it, please let it be.
According to Wikipedia, non-photosynthesizing orchids are now known to be not saprophytic, like some fungi that get their nutrition from decaying plants, but myco-heterotrophic, parasitizing fungi (that share nutrients with other plants) to steal their nutrients instead.
Phantom Orchid
Phantom orchid, Cephalanthera austiniae.
Lincoln Park, Seattle, Washington State, June 26, 2013.
This orchid is rare and getting rarer, preferring deep, moist forests, and it's extraordinary to find it here in the city. But, according to the UW's Burke Museum, one of the university's seven reference specimens was collected in Lincoln Park in 1937. If you see it, please let it be.
According to Wikipedia, non-photosynthesizing orchids are now known to be not saprophytic, like some fungi that get their nutrition from decaying plants, but myco-heterotrophic, parasitizing fungi (that share nutrients with other plants) to steal their nutrients instead.