Andrew Trundlewagon's photos with the keyword: woodland

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.

A large white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) which, confusingly, in this case is pink. The normally white flowers turn pink as they age, but there is also a rare variety that is pink from the moment it blooms. A woodland plant that flowers in mid to late spring. The seeds have an oily attachment called the elaiosome that ants find irresistible. The ants carry the seeds back to their nests, feed on the elaiosomes and abandon the rest of the seed near the nest where some will sprout. The white trillium is the floral emblem of Ontario.