ERICACEAE 
HEATH FAMILY 
INDIAN PIPE. CORPSE PLANT 
Monotropa uniflora L. 
This most curious flower has no green parts. Stems, 
leaves and flowers are white—so white that the plant is some- 
times called Corpse Plant or Ghost Flower, and is often 
mistaken for a fungus. 
It was formerly thought that 
the Indian Pipe obtained its 
food from dead organic matter 
just as many fungi do. Now, 
however, it is known that a 
fungus entirely covers the roots 
and is partly within them; it is 
believed that in some way the 
Indian Pipe is a parasite on the 
fungus and obtains at least part 
of its food from the fungus body. 
The Indian Pipe grows in dense 
rich woods nearly throughout North 
America except in the far north. 
The scapes, usually clustered, rise 
2-12 inches high from mats of 
brittle roots. 
The solitary odorless flower is 
nodding at the tip of the scape, 
and blooms from June to August. 
The calyx consists of 2-4 irregular 
scales or bracts and the corolla of 
usually 5 wedge-shaped scalelike 
petals a little longer than the 8 or 
Io stamens. The pistil consists of a 
4 or $-celled ovary, a short stout 
style and a disklike stigma. The 
fruit is a capsule containing innumerable very small seeds. 
Deep in the wood, of scent and song the daughter, 
Perfect and bright is the magnolia born; 
White as a flake of foam upon still water, 
White as soft fleece upon rough brambles torn. 
The Magnolia—JosE SANTOS CHOCANO 
(Translated by John Pierrepont Rice) 
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