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.