Natural History Photographs


Monotropa hypopitys
Authority:Linnaeus, 1753
Synonyms:Hypopitys monotropa Crantz, 1766
Nederlands:stofzaad
English:yellow bird's-nest
Deutsch:behaarte Fichtenspargel
Norsk:vaniljerot
Svenska:tallört
Français:sucepin pubescent
Italiano:ipopitide
Español:espárrago borde, jopo, pipa de indio
Theth (Shkodër), Albania; 16 July 2017.
Pterospora andromedea
Authority:Nuttall, 1818
English:woodland pinedrops, Albany beechdrops, giant bird's nest
Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming), USA;
18 - 22 August 2017.


Looking at these photos, one can immediately see these plants lack an essential plant-quality: being green. The lack of chlorophyll makes clear that these plants must have a special way of making a living - and indeed they have: they parasitize on fungi! The fungi themselves are living symbiotically with trees, which provide the fungus with sugars. So the trees photosynthesize, exchange photosynthate with the fungus, which in turn is parasitized by the plants. In effect, the plants receive sugars from the trees, via a fungal wire!