INDIAN PIPE FAiMILY 



MONOTROPACE^ 



Who has not wondered at the strange, ghost- 

 Hke beauty of the Indian Pipe as the plant rises 

 from its bed of brown needles in the shadow of 

 the pines. It seems to belong to the tribe of 

 mushrooms and toadstools rather than to that of 

 the flowering plants. But a little looking will 

 show the organs of the flower in the bowl of the 

 pipe, so that one must recognize its claim of kin- 

 ship with the flowers. But one who knows that 

 the flowering plants as a whole get their beauty 

 through the action of sunlight on the green leaves 

 will readily believe that this white plant is a para- 

 site, robbing the roots of other plants of their 

 sap in order that it may grow, or else, like the 

 toadstools, sucking up the material of decaying 

 plants and so becoming a saprophyte. 



Pine Sap. This Indian Pipe was formerly in- 

 cluded in the Heath family but it is so curious and 

 distinctive that it is now placed in a family of its 

 own which includes but two species — the Indian 

 Pipe and the Pine Sap or False Beech Drops. 

 The strange plants of the latter are often to be 

 found in shady woods, being of a rather reddish 

 hue, somewhat fragrant and generally from six 



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