A ghost of the past

Along the trail to Flying Mountain, in a dense, green, heavily wooded area—it appeared against the shaded darkness. Even in the shadows, its white silhouette stood out in clear contrast to the deep, rich tones of the woods.
And, though I hadn’t seen one in many years, I immediately recognized it as being familiar to me. Funny, how just a second’s look instantly triggers a memory. An Indian Pipe, a ghost from the past, seen once, long ago.

Monotropa uniflora, with its eerie character, has an unusual life. Easily confused with fungi, it is actually a flowering plant. What makes it so unique is its lack of chlorophyll—the green coloring essential for photosynthesis.
Instead of generating its own energy from sunlight, it lives as a mycoheterotroph, in the darkness beneath its host tree in very shaded woods. In a mycoheterotrophic (phew) relationship, the host, usually a conifer or deciduous tree, is photosynthetic. A fungus in the soil acts as the middleman connecting the Indian Pipe above, to the nutrients in the tree's roots below.
This complex 3-piece relationship makes propagation difficult—the seed of the Indian Pipe must quickly form the fungi connection in order to grow. Indian Pipes, also known as ghost flower or ice plant, are native to dark, dense woods of North America, and are described as scarce to rare in occurrence.
Read more about Monotropa uniflora here and here.