Pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys)

Monotropa hypopitys, also known as pinesap, dutchman’s pipe, or yellow birds nest, is a myco-hetertrophic herbaceous perennial plant that lives in the understory of coniferous and fir forests in much of the northern hemisphere. Unlike many other plants, it lacks chlorophyll and obtains its nutrients through parasitism of mycorrhizal fungus in the soil. This adaptation has co-evolved in several distinct groups of plants and has proven to be a very successful strategy in forests. Mycorrhizal interactions occur in most forests around the world; they connect tree networks with fungus, root systems, bacteria, and microbiota in the soil. It is the primary driver of nutrient and water exchange throughout forests and its importance can’t be overstated. This plant, along with many other plants in the Ericacea family, have tapped into this network and evolved to take advantage of this system. Pinesap is easily identified in forests since it’s so unique. It grows between 10-35 cm tall, has red/yellow/white pigments, and lacks any chlorophyll. The flowers emerge in mid summer-fall, are pendulous when young, have scaly bracts, and its inflorescence has 1-11 flowers at its apex that forms a raceme. This plant emerged bright red and I haven’t seen anything like it before. I wonder if this is an ecotype because of its isolation on orcas island for millions of years. What do you all think?