The American Botanist 



VOL. XIII. 



JOLIET, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1907. 



No. 3 



CO 

 EXJ 



GHOST PLANTS. 



BY GRACE GREYLOCK NILES. 



PLANTS without green leaves, are always degenerates. 

 They are beggars, or burglar plants, and are distinguish- 

 ed by the fungus-like growth of their deeply buried roots, and 

 their corpse-like blossoms. The destitute organism of the 

 parasite or saprophyte, is easily recognized in many of our 

 common woodland plants. The family of Monotropaceae 

 consists of twelve species, all of which are parasitic. One of 

 the species most frequently seen, is the Indian pipe, or corpse 

 plant (Monotropa iiniflora), which grows among decayed 

 leaves in dark woods. The blossoms readily suggest a clay 

 pipe, with its nodding bell-shaped bowl on the end of a long 

 waxen pipe stem. The Indians knew the flower long ago as 

 the calumet or pipe of peace. Others called it later the flower 

 of immortality, or the ghost plant on account of its pure white 

 garb. The whole plant turns black when bruised, and as soon 

 as the waxy petals of the flowers have fallen, the seed capsule 

 becomes erect, and looses the pipe-like character of its flower- 

 ing season. Wanderers through the August woodlands scarce- 

 ly recognize these as flowering plants, and believe them to be 

 some sort of fungus. 



Parasitic plants have a degenerate nature, and take their 

 nourishment from the vegetation about them. The branded 

 group contains not only the Indian pipes, but several other 

 species from other families, such as brome-rape, dodder, 

 pine-sap, and beech-drops. Even the highly organized Orchid 

 family has several species on the very threshold of degener- 

 acy. 



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