My mother showed me one of these a few years ago and I thought she was pulling my leg. That's one of the coolest plants I've seen. I'm inclined to say you're right about it being the mature stage of the plant, since they look upward at the last. Great pictures.

Thank you, LauraAnn, I love the Monotropa uniflora :) I have several hundred of the Monotropa uniflora growing in my woodland here where I live in the Adirondacks. Please know, I have spent many years in the woodlands propagating and growing native plants and herbs. I enjoy native way gardening, which, by the way, I learned from my ancestors as well as experience and observation. My relatives have lived here and have worked in farming/forestry in the Adirondack mountains for many generations. I transplant the Indian Pipes with extra attention and care. I lift the plants with the soil intact around the root systems and I transplant into well prepared sites. I find that adding a lot of well rotted/decayed pine roots/wood and/or well decayed maple wood into the soil in the planting bed to be greatly helpful. In my observation the plants die back each year and reproduce via roots-fungi in the soil and well rotted roots or wood is necessary for the growth of the Indian Pipes. I have found that if I extend the planting beds to several feet and I add decaying wood/roots into the soil (one part soil to each part decayed wood or roots) the Indian pipes reproduce year to year. I also apply a mulch of leaf mould or live moss over the planting site. I have also transplanted mushrooms with excellent results in the same way. :)

Indian Pipe or Ghost plant has been documented in 21 of the 75 counties, mostly in the mountainous area, but also in the Pine Bluff, El Dorado and SE Ark areas. They are usually found in deep shade, in old woodlands among decaying leaf litter. Since they lack chlorophyll, they are a heterotrophic plant and are parisitic on fungi and establish a mycorrhizal relationship with the roots of a host tree, that provides photosynthesis. They are often an elusive plant, sometimes appearing in an area for a time and then disappearing. I have had them briefly appear in the wooded areas of my property, but they seldom return in the same area. Rb

Thanks Ellen. :) That describes the location perfectly. The area has been protected by what appear to be a combination of dense poison ivy, mud, and neglect. Now itÂs like IÂve got a secret garden of alien life-forms all to myself! For lack of actual gardening to do, IÂve been doing research on the plants in my yard that I identify. It looks like the most recent information (gathered from my rather scatterbrained searches) on Indian pipe is that they get their nutrients from a particular fungus, which in tern lives in symbiosis with a few types of tree. There are fancy names for these relationships that I canÂt keep straight, but the relationship is described in some writings as symbiotic and in others as parasitic. The notion that these plants live off of decomposing leaf litter seems to be an old one. http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/Mycorrhizas_5.html "It has long been recognized that these plants must obtain their food from a source other than photosynthesis. In the early-1800s, microscopic examination of monotrope roots indicated that they were not connected to tree roots, but were closely associated with abundant fine threadlike structures. However, the nature of this mycorrhizal association and even the fact that the threads were fungus hyphae was initially not appreciated. "Eventually the fact that fungi were always closely associated with these roots became well established, although widely ignored. Botanists assumed that these plants obtained their food by decomposing leaf litter, and references to these "saprophytic" plants continue to appear in many college biology and botany textbooks. However, there is no evidence that these plants have any decomposer ability and it takes only one look at their short stubby roots to see that they are not designed for efficient decomposition and nutrient capture (Figure 4)." This article goes on to talk about experiments with a relative of the Indian pipe, called pinesap, that investigate whether the plants in this family are parasites or symbiants: ". . . . Later studies repeatedly have confirmed Björkman's finding that achlorophyllous plants receive their food from the ectomycorrhizal fungi with which they form mycorrhizas. With respect to the carbon-rich photosynthates, the ultimate source is the trees." It looks like these types of plants may also be giving something back to the fungus, but this has yet to be confirmed; and the relationship may change during parts of the plantÂs life-cycle. ItÂs fascinating stuff! Here is a link that might be useful: MykoWeb article