Thursday, August 04, 2011

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

I went looking for butterflies today but didn't find many so I veered from the open grasslands into the trees.  About time for my favorite little saprophytic to be blooming and after a little searching, I found them.  Indian Pipe doesn't have chlorophyll and instead gets all of the nutrients it requires from a close association w/ fungi in the soil.  Therefore, they can bloom even under the canopy of the forest.  It's flowers are bent downward until pollinated and then they turn upward - as these are - and the seeds develop.  So how do they get pollinated?  Not sure.  I've seen bees and skipper butterflies in the woods in summer and often wondered what they were doing there.  Maybe they realize there are opportunities to find what you want in some very unlikely places. 

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