io6 nature: study. 
dian pipe is a true symbiot, “being in its existence closely 
bound up with that of another plant which contributes to 
its necessities, but is equally benefited by this connection.” 
The late Dr. Charles Mohr in the “Plant Eife of Alabama’’ 
(government publication) states the relation as follows : 
“immediately after their germination the rootlets of these 
plants are infested by the vegetative threads or spawn (my¬ 
celium) of a fungus, which, as the plant develops, fastens 
itself upon every root, finally enveloping the rootstalk in a 
thick film, the higher plant drawing its nourishment solely 
from the elaborated food of the fungus.” Whether the 
fungus gains anything more than a favorable site for growth 
is a question. It may possibly receive strengthening 
juices from the hospitable root. [R. Y. Eeavitt, in Amer¬ 
ican Gardening , p. 552.] 
So here we have a very curious state of affairs. A flow¬ 
ering plant, belonging to the highest sub-kingdom in the 
world, has formed a partnership with a member of the low¬ 
est sub-kingdom ! It has sold its birthright, the right to 
make chlorophyll and thereby assimilate its own food from 
the soil and the air, for a mess of pottage, and has thus en¬ 
slaved itself to the lowest of the low. In their inflores¬ 
cence and mode of reproduction Indian pipe (Monotropa) 
and false beech-drops (Hypopitys) are closely allied to the 
heath family (Ericaceae). It is now known that many 
members of this family are to a greater or less degree de¬ 
pendent on the association of fungi with their root sys¬ 
tems, the fungi taking the place of root hairs. Therefore, 
it is highly probable that the members of the Indian pipe 
family are degraded members of the heath family, having 
carried their borrowing propensity to extremes. It ap¬ 
pears that the root system in their case is wholly envel¬ 
oped, and that all the materials of subsistence are contrib¬ 
uted by the fungus. 
Both Indian pip£ and false beech-drops may be found in 
