By Sara Wright
One of the advantages to staying close to home in extreme heat is that I spend most of my outdoor time in my own forests. On this side of the brook, I have shaded woodland paths that meander through young pines and mixed woods, some of which lead to the field, others to the brook. This year I have been on the lookout for the woodcock’s nest without success, but by peering into every nook and cranny I recently discovered a couple of clumps of pinesap (Monotropha hypopitys). Returning the last three mornings specifically to check on this plant, I was amazed to see how fast it moved from late flowering to desiccation. If this is due to extreme heat, it’s no wonder folks miss it!
Oddly, I noted a single stalk of pinesap that appeared in early June that I originally thought was a single ghost pipe. When it developed two white flowers, I realized my mistake. This single plant is situated in low pine woodlands where mosses and moisture are abundant on the opposite side of my little forest of pinesap that’s climbing a steep hill. Both flowering pinesap and ghost pipes emit an eerie glow, especially in the early morning. Both are pollinated by bumblebees. In its flowering stage it is easy to distinguish pinesap from its cousin the ghost pipe because ghost pipe has only one flower.
Both pinesap and ghost pipe are mycotrophic; that is, they rely on a fungus that grows in association with the roots of a nearby plant or tree to form a symbiotic relationship. Neither pinesap nor ghost pipe have chlorophyll, so these plants must receive energy that trees produce through photosynthesis. This energy is shared through the fungal roots, and in return carbon and other nutrients are exchanged with their tree partners. Another way of saying this is that pinesap hyphae connect with fungi in the soil. Pinesap absorbs nutrients from a host fungus, which, in turn, acquires its nutrients through a mutually beneficial association with pine tree roots. An underground, three-way highway is formed. Pinesap and white pines are in a reciprocal mycorrhizal relationship with a fungus in between.
If found in early summer pinesap is often whiteish in color. The ones on my hill have a pinkish tinge. Later in the season and early fall flowering pinesap is often a deep pink or even a startling red. There is also a yellow species that I have never come across. The fruits are dry and look like little round balls that split open when ripe.
Pinesap is a perennial plant with a wide distribution throughout the United States and Canada, we hope. I found nothing in my research that indicated whether the plant is at risk for more than the usual reasons-habitat destruction, climate change, etc. Not one source mentioned overharvesting which is occurring as I write.
The plant is unique and not easily spotted after it flowers so when walking through woodland paths pay close attention to the ground beneath and around your feet, and I promise that you will not be disappointed.