Candy Canes in June

Today was the annual geocaching CITO in which we set up the platform tents in the volunteer campground at Longmire. I always watch for the mycoheterotrophic species here, and was rewarded with a lovely cluster of Allotropa virgata, aka "Stick Candy," which looks like peppermint sticks. I don't think the handful of people I collared en route back to the picnic pavilion were expecting a botany lesson, but y'know, I just couldn't help myself. This plant is among my favourites, not only because it's pretty and unusual, but because it survives in spite of incredible odds. First of all, it requires the assistance of a specific fungus for breaking down soil components into something it needs, that fungus has its own set of requirements. Some mycoheterotrophs are more "sociable" than others, which is to say they rely on a wider range of fungi, but in my experience, the rarity of a plant seems to correspond to the number of fungal partners it is willing to accept. Ah, to be fifty years younger, and to have it to do all over again! Mycoheterotrophy fascinates me like nothing else.