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.
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