it’s a plant, but rather than photosynthesizing, it is what’s called a mycoheterotroph, which means it gets its nutrients by siphoning stuff from fungal networks in the soil, so, sorta?
It is a plant, just of a sort that has turned to parasitism I suppose for its nutrients. I believe they are part of a larger family of plants named saprophytes.
The other person is correct in calling it a mycohrtetotroh, sporophyte implies it lives of decaying plant matter which it doesn’t. Plants like these are interesting, no chlorophyll, what your seeing is only the flower and stem, the leaves are highly vestigial, there’s no main stem
this species tend to be “more common” but its very unusual that it shows up on different continents, but not in a continious population, disjunct its called. it occurs north america all the way to china, russia, india, ,etc. but tends to be rare consider how fickle these plants are(super specific fungi and environment). thier seeds are most similar to orchids(which can be partial or full mycoheterotroph). fun fact there used to be another type of mycohetroph in the americas, this is even more unusual since its mostly found in asia(around 100+ species i think a ton got discovered in the last few years i have been keeping up with this genus is really interesting) thismia americana was suppose to grow in lake calumut area, but it went shortly extinct(that we know of) after it was discovered, they had been trying to find this plant ever since, 1912(by Pfiffer)(another species in asia wasnt seen for 151 years after it was discovered until 2017(South america has thier own thismia(but its likely they are a different genus ). because mycohetereotrophs are rarely seen plants,(you wouldnt know its there unless flowering), like a normal plant you know its there even without leaves, it has stems, branches etc.
i was on the sub for plant ID, and they had gnome plant once posted(pretty rare in the redwood forest in the north west pacific coast), and monotropa hypotytis.
So is it in anyway related to mushroom?
it’s a plant, but rather than photosynthesizing, it is what’s called a mycoheterotroph, which means it gets its nutrients by siphoning stuff from fungal networks in the soil, so, sorta?
It is a plant, just of a sort that has turned to parasitism I suppose for its nutrients. I believe they are part of a larger family of plants named saprophytes.
The other person is correct in calling it a mycohrtetotroh, sporophyte implies it lives of decaying plant matter which it doesn’t. Plants like these are interesting, no chlorophyll, what your seeing is only the flower and stem, the leaves are highly vestigial, there’s no main stem
Ah! Thanks for the clarification. I should’ve done a side-search to check before posting.
Hmm, wikipedia says… “… Instead of generating food using the energy from sunlight, it is parasitic, and more specifically a mycoheterotroph” though.
this species tend to be “more common” but its very unusual that it shows up on different continents, but not in a continious population, disjunct its called. it occurs north america all the way to china, russia, india, ,etc. but tends to be rare consider how fickle these plants are(super specific fungi and environment). thier seeds are most similar to orchids(which can be partial or full mycoheterotroph). fun fact there used to be another type of mycohetroph in the americas, this is even more unusual since its mostly found in asia(around 100+ species i think a ton got discovered in the last few years i have been keeping up with this genus is really interesting) thismia americana was suppose to grow in lake calumut area, but it went shortly extinct(that we know of) after it was discovered, they had been trying to find this plant ever since, 1912(by Pfiffer)(another species in asia wasnt seen for 151 years after it was discovered until 2017(South america has thier own thismia(but its likely they are a different genus ). because mycohetereotrophs are rarely seen plants,(you wouldnt know its there unless flowering), like a normal plant you know its there even without leaves, it has stems, branches etc.
i was on the sub for plant ID, and they had gnome plant once posted(pretty rare in the redwood forest in the north west pacific coast), and monotropa hypotytis.
Ghost Pipe is a fungi.