365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Monotropa Uniflora, Indian Pipe
Day 290: Monotropa uniflora is one of my favourite mycoheterotrophic plants. Okay, that's a hard call to make since I'm generally fascinated by all mycoheterotrophs, but there are a few which rise straight to the top of the list. Indian Pipe is one, for all of it being fairly common in PNW forests. It is relatively non-specific in its choice of fungal partner, growing where the mycorrhizae of several different Russula species occur. Other mycoheterotrophs are more selective, although that specificity does not necessarily mean that they are more rare; the rarity depends on the fungal associate, although conversely, an abundance of the fungus does not necessarily guarantee a similar abundance of the mycoheterotrophic plant. It's kinda like that old saying from the Depression era, "If we had ham, we'd have ham and eggs, if we had eggs." Or this one: "It takes two to tango."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment