Happy Sappy Family

Day 278: Pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys) is one of Mount Rainier National Park's most common mycoheterotrophic species. Even so, it's not exactly thick on the ground. As an obligate mycoheterotroph, it depends on a range of mycorrhizal species to assist with its uptake of nutrients from the soil. Newly emerging plants can be confused with even less common Gnome Plant (Hemitomes congestum). Hemitomes never develops a stalk and even at maturity, resembles the tip of a pink "pinecone" embedded in the ground. Radioactive glucose and phosphorus have both been used in field experiments to trace the relationship between Pinesap and its mycorrhizal partners (outside the Park, obviously), tests which clarified its cooperation with specific fungal species and also revealed an association with the roots of certain trees. There's a lot of activity going on in the forest underground!

Mountain Postcard

Day 267: I have the good fortune to be able to live, work and play in what I consider to be one of the most beautiful and exciting places on Earth: at the foot of Mount Rainier. I never know from one day to the next what I may discover. Why, just in the last few months, I've documented several rare plant species, and I have to tell you, those are the kinds of "red-letter" events which delight me most. But even when I'm viewing the mundane...marmots, paintbrush, alpine meadows filled with heather...it is the Mountain's presence which awes me and fills my spirit. This, above all else, is home.

Pinesap, Monotropa Hypopitys

Day 238: If you put forth the hypothesis that this is hypopitys, you'd be right, but you'd probably never get your tongue unwound. For once, you're safer if you call it by its common name, Pinesap, another of those marvelous mycoheterotrophs and fairly common in Mount Rainier National Park. Its cousin Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) is white, and occurs far less frequently in our forests. Formerly referred to as "saprophytes" (a misnomer you will still see in field guides), the Monotropas are in fact one half of a symbiotic relationship with a fungus. This specimen was observed along Westside Road along with an abundance of other mycoheterotrophic species, and in that respect, I do have a hypothesis: that our mild winter has allowed the mycorrhizae associated with these curious plants to proliferate. That's why we're seeing so many of them this summer.

Mycoheterotroph Season

Day 297: It's the season when those most mysterious mycoheterotrophs are at their best in the lowland forests! These amazing plants would not exist if it were not for their symbiotic relationship with species-specific fungi. Formerly classified as "saprophytes," obligate (full) mycoheterotrophs are incapable of photosynthesis on their own and must parasitize a fungal component. Facultative (partial) mycoheterotrophy occurs when a plant is capable of photosynthesis (as in the case of some orchids), but take a portion of their nutritional requirement by parasitizing a fungus.

Okay, okay...that's probably too much science for many of you, and if you get me started, I'll go on for volumes. I'm fascinated by the mycoheterotrophs, as a couple of strangers discovered today. I was in my famous "naturalist enraptured" pose, down on my knees and elbows, derriere in the "two o'clock" position, trying to hold the camera steady for a long exposure of the Candystick when I heard a young man's voice asking, "Is that a real person?" I had not heard him approaching with his mother, and they must have taken me for one of Mount Rainier National Park's more peculiar exhibits. Before she could answer (and she was taking her time, possibly wondering the same thing), I laughed and said, "Yes, I'm a real person." I think they were somewhat startled even so! They escaped before I could deliver my usual interpretive lesson on mycoheterotrophy, but I am always on the lookout for anyone who may be curious about these intriguing plants.

Candystick (Allotropa virgata) is less common than Pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys), although both specimens were found growing along the stretch of the Wonderland Trail between Longmire and Cougar Rock Campground. The Candystick occurred only in two locations, whereas Pinesap was observed in numerous spots. Coralroot (Corallorrhiza sp.) was also widely seen, but it is at the end of its flowering period and is now forming seed pods.