#wfgna

[wingedjewels]

Rufous Hummingbird and Western Coneflowers by Neil Paprocki Via Flickr: Selasphorus rufus and Rudbeckia occidentalis. August 6, 2017. Salt Lake County, Utah.

[sodeartomyheart]

Monotropa uniflora by pfly Via Flickr: I've wanted to see this kind of flower ever since I heard about them a few years ago, and today I found two patches in the woods at Deception Pass State Park, yay. One of a small number of flowering plants that have given up on the photosynthesis thing, Monotropa uniflora (Indian-pipe, Ghost plant) is apparently a parasite, via its roots, upon underground mycorrhizal fungi, which in turn have a symbiotic relationship with tree roots. The monotropa flower gets its energy from the tree, by way of the fungi, all underground. I think there are only one or two other flowers that are so purely white. Also, apparently monotropa is quite specific about which fungi it parasitizes -- Russula and Lactarius. There seems to be differing information about whether it is of the Ericaceae family or the Monotropaceae family. The USDA Plants database says Monotropaceae. My field guide book and wikipedia say Ericaceae. And this page says Ericaceae family, but Monotropoideae sub-family. The plant used to be called "saprophytic", meaning it derived energy from dead decaying matter, but that turned out to be false. They are more properly called myco-heterotrophic. My field guide book notes: "In the Straits Salish and Nlaka'pamux languages, the name for Indian-pipe means 'wolf's urine'; it is associated with wolves and is said to grow wherever a wolf urinates."