FLORA OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 3 
to a group of plants which live on decayed matter. They have lost 
all green coloring matter which is necessary for self-support and live 
on the products of other plants. The best known of these strange 
denizens of the forest is the Indian pipe or ghost plant Monotropa uni - 
flora (fig. 1). The former common name is applied to it because of its 
Fig. 1.—Indian pipe or ghost plant (Monotropa uniflora). 
Color of flower, white; height of plant, 5 to 12 inches; blooms July and August. 
Photograph by Asahel Curtis. 
fancied resemblance to the ordinary clay pipe, the latter because of its 
pearly whiteness. This plant has a wide range, extending all over the 
United States wherever the proper conditions are found. Nowhere 
is it more at home than in the woods of Washington and Oregon. 
There is another plant of the same genus which has several flowers 
on the same stem; this is popularly called the many-flowered Indian 
