454 



PLANTS AND MAN 



Indian Pipe Family 



The Indian Pipe Family {Monotropaceae) is made up of unusual 

 plants which have lost their chlorophyll and are therefore either 

 saprophytes or parasites; it is related to the Wintergreen and 

 Heath Families (fig. 276). Indian pipes are frequently mistaken 

 for fungi because the whole plant is white in color; they bear 

 white leaf scales and solitary terminal flowers with six white or 



Fig, 276. — In the Indian Pipe Family are such chlorophyll-deficient plants as 

 pinesap (A), pinedrops (B) and Indian pipes (C). 



pink petals. Like other members of the family Indian pipes are 

 found in damp shaded woods. Pinesap is a yellowish brown or 

 pink plant with a nodding one-sided cluster of red or yellow 

 flowers; pinesap is found in the Atlantic coastal region. Pine- 

 drops is a stouter and clammy plant with brownish stems and 

 nodding white flowers; this member of the family is common 

 2ilong the Pacific coast where it lives as a parasite upon pine 

 roots. Likewise western in its distribution is the bright red snow^ 



