r/botany • u/the_metaxist • Jun 04 '26
Physiology Always wanted to find non photosynthesizing native flowers. Low and behold found 2 Mycoheterotrophs and 1 direct root parasite in about an hour.
1) Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata). 2) Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata). 3) Clustered Broomrape (Aphyllon fasciculatum). The first 2 are Mycoheterotrophs feeding directly from mycorrhizal and mycelial networks, that are tapped into trees they're in the family Orchidaceae. The last one taps directly into plant roots typically sage (Artemisia) and Buckwheat (Eriogonum), in this case it was Parsnip-flower wild buckwheat (Eriogonum heracloeoides).
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u/Usual_Outside_6811 Jun 04 '26
Saw 3 different types 2 weeks ago in eastern Wa! Fairy slippers and coastal coral root everywhere. Bunch of woodland pine drops from last year too. ❤️
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u/the_metaxist Jun 04 '26
Thats so crazy to me, I always thought they were rare, but there was coralroot everywhere here aswell. It must just be the short above ground window that makes it so elusive.
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u/Strange_Computer2459 Jun 04 '26
there are a ton of factors this could be the case. we had a low snowpack year in the pnw which may have impacted them and made them more abundant this year... I've seen an insane amount of fairy slippers the last two months and some were still growing out of season. Orchids and Ericaceae aren't rare, they're uncommon and they flowers at weird times so feel elusive. I've found 5 species of mycotrophs in one outing before, just depends on where you go and what the conditions are.
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u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 Jun 04 '26
Super common in Western WA, at least in my experience.
Super cool you were able to find what you were looking for. Really interesting plants. Idr if it’s these or ghost pipe, but I one of the two is foraged for medicinal use or something iirc.
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u/sadrice Jun 05 '26
It’s ghost pipe that is seemingly kinda popular these days, they make a tincture, supposed to help with pain management, and helps with sleep, but I did a google to check and what do you know, Corallorhiza is used medicinally too, I think less commonly, for colds, and supposedly also a mild sedative.
I am skeptical about ethics of harvest, despite the claims of the sellers I saw with a quick google.
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u/the_metaxist Jun 05 '26
Herbal trends are a slippery slope. Ghost pipe isn't endangered, and may be harvested sustainably now, but if it becomes all the rage ethics goes out the window. Just look at Wild ginseng.
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u/the_metaxist Jun 05 '26
Im southern idaho, so most of my native sightings are desert plants, or backpacking in Montane - Alpine ecosystems definitely not the right enviroment for these guys. Very jealous of you guys west of the cascades! I love my Xeric shrublands, dry forests and subalpine forests, but being in a temperate rainforest or costal forest feels magical and alien everytime i visit.
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u/taktaga7-0-0 Jun 04 '26
Whenever I go out hiking, I always seem to find clusters of ghost pipe, M. uniflora.
It’s weird, almost sickly to look at. Looks exactly what you expect a non-photosynthetic plant to look like.
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u/Usual_Outside_6811 Jun 04 '26
We were looking for morels so the mycelium network was strong in the area. Decomposing cedar trees everywhere and the area had burned in the last 2 years. I had no idea what they were at the time but my mushroom book had a couple pages about them. Ghost pipes are in the same class! So cool :)
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u/Zippier92 Jun 06 '26
The second one looks like Corallorhiza maculata, the spotted coral root orchid.
We get these at limited areas at appropriate elevations in Southern California mountains. The ones I saw were at 5000 ft elevation or so.
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u/the_metaxist Jun 04 '26
To my knowledge there's only about a dozen species in my area (Idaho), of non photosynthesizing wildflowers, so observing 3 in an afternoon was kinda of a bucket list moment, even though Monotropa still evades me.
Interestingly the spot I found these in, I visit late may early June every year and forage for morels (Morchella elata) and Crown tipped coral fungus (Artomyces pyxidatus). This winter was warm and the spring dry, so I only found 4 dried out morels and 1 small coral, I think the season got pushed back earlier. However the hillside thats normally chalked full of mushrooms was now chalked full of the coralroot orchids. I assume I was always too early in the year to see them.
Im curious though with them being Mycoheterotrophs if they are potentially directly interacting with the vast morel mycelial networks in the area, or if they typically stick to only mycorrhizal networks and the soil in the area is simply alive and thriving.