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Monotropa uniflora
Indian Pipes, or Monotropa uniflora, has no chlorophyll, so it has a parasitic relationship with fungi which, in turn, has a mycorrhizal relationship with trees, which is an example of mutualism where a plant or fungus wraps itself around a trees' roots. The plant pulls nutrients from the tree to grow, and at the same time delivers nutrients from the soil to the tree. This is a rare plant.
Hey, dferris1! Thanks for the info. When I looked this up, I was a little confused about how this worked and you cleared it all up. Thanks for the help!
I just want to make a small correction to your description. It is not the Indian Pipe that has a mycorrhizal relationship with the trees, as mycorrihizal refers to a relationship between fungus and roots. This is a mutual relationship between the tree and the fungus. The indian pipe is actually a parasite, which take nutrients from the mycorrihizal fungus, thus taking nutrients indirectly from the tree.
Spotted on Aug 16, 2014
Submitted on Aug 16, 2014
