INDIAN PIPE FAMILY 
MONOTROPACEZ 
Wuo has not wondered at the strange, ghost- 
like 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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