Ghost Pipe

This is the flower I've been looking for in the woods. Most woodland flowers bloom in the spring before the overhead canopy of leaves shut out the sun. The ghost pipe, however, doesn't need the sun to get it's nutrients (that's why they aren't green). Tree leaves create sucrose using photosynthesis and send it down the tree into the roots. The tree roots are in contact w/ fungi in the ground. The tree provides the fungi w/ sucrose and the fungi aid the tree roots in absorbing water and minerals from the soil (especially phosphorus). The ghost pipe parasites the tree fungi taking nutrients for themselves. So this is a three-way relationship - trees, fungi, and ghost pipe plant. A  ménage á trois so to speak.  (Think it would be a really bad sign if your beloved gave you a dozen of these flowers.)