Help identifying Appalachain Plant
 

I ran across this plant while hiking around the Appalachain mountans a
while ago and I cannot find it's name or a reference to it. It's a
"white" plant, moderately translucent, void of noticable pigment. It
grows only one stem at a time and the flower resembles a bell hanging on
the top of the erect stem. They grew in small clusters. There don't seem
to be any leaves on the white stem. It may be a fungus and I'm barking up
the wrong tree.... but I seem to remember looking it up in the Audubon
guide to wildflowers once... but I can't find it again.

Any help finding a reference to the plant would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
-Chuck

Help identifying Appalachain Plant
 

Hi Chuck,

Probably Monotropa uniflora, aka Indian Pipe.

See
http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/...ndianpipe.html

Dave

"Charles R Allen" wrote in message
urdue.edu...
I ran across this plant while hiking around the Appalachain mountans a
while ago and I cannot find it's name or a reference to it. It's a
"white" plant, moderately translucent, void of noticable pigment. It
grows only one stem at a time and the flower resembles a bell hanging on
the top of the erect stem. They grew in small clusters. There don't seem
to be any leaves on the white stem. It may be a fungus and I'm barking up
the wrong tree.... but I seem to remember looking it up in the Audubon
guide to wildflowers once... but I can't find it again.

Any help finding a reference to the plant would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
-Chuck

Help identifying Appalachain Plant
 

On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 09:32:58 -0500, Charles R Allen wrote:

I ran across this plant while hiking around the Appalachain mountans a
while ago and I cannot find it's name or a reference to it. It's a
"white" plant, moderately translucent, void of noticable pigment. It
grows only one stem at a time and the flower resembles a bell hanging on
the top of the erect stem. They grew in small clusters. There don't seem
to be any leaves on the white stem. It may be a fungus and I'm barking up
the wrong tree.... but I seem to remember looking it up in the Audubon
guide to wildflowers once... but I can't find it again.

Any help finding a reference to the plant would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
-Chuck

It's a fascinating plant called Monotropa uniflora and Indian Pipe. For a photo
and basic information including taxonomy see
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature...monotropa.html
The linked article 'Ghosts of Summer's Woods' has lots more information.

PLANTS has the US distribution in clickable map form and more images.
http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant...i?symbol=MOUN3

Indian Pipe has only one close relative, Pinesap. For info and pictures see
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/...tropahypo.html

There's lots more about this plant on the Web. A Google search on the botanical
name will turn up almost 5,000 hits.

Happy surfing.