We ventured into the woods today to look at the seed heads of the cranefly orchids, and came across these dried up plants. They look pretty similar to striped wintergreen, but striped wintergreen doesn’t have so many flowers on one stem. With some research at home, we determined that this is pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys).
Pinesap is a mycoheterotroph, which means that it does not perform photosynthesis, but takes its energy from fungus.
The cranefly orchids were growing in the same area. It is interesting to note that their seeds are too small to germinate on their own. Cranefly orchids depend on certain types of fungi to provide enough energy for their seeds to germinate.
In both cases, the fungi we are talking about have a symbiotic relationship with trees. The trees provide the fungus with sugar, and the fungus provides the tree with water and minerals from the soil. This relationship is called mycorrhiza.
Whether the same species of fungus is providing nutrients to both the pinesap and the cranefly orchid is unclear to us right now. If you know, please tell us!
We’ll go back in the late spring next year to see if we can find the pinesap in bloom.