Andrew Trundlewagon's photos with the keyword: parasitic

The parasitic plant Pinesap (Monotropha hypopitys) lacks chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesize but gathers all the metabolic carbon it needs from soil fungus. Trees photosynthesize and make sugars; they share some of this with their fungal partners and the fungus reciprocates by providing minerals to the trees. The pinesap steals these nutrients from the fungus. It is all rather devious. Despite the name pinesaps are found near many trees. Where the photo was taken, there was a lot of birch, some beeches and maples but no pines. The stem here is very light pink, but sometimes it can be bright red (I haven’t seen that in life, only in photos). It occurs throughout the temperate Northern hemisphere and is part of the heath and heather family, Ericaceae which also includes blueberries, and cranberries as well as azaleas and rhododendrons.