The poet Emily Dickinson declared the mysterious white plant “the preferred flower of life.” Others call it ghost plant, ghost pipe or Indian pipe. Some mistake it for a mushroom. Its Latin name is Monotropa uniflora and it is actually a perennial wildflower that emerges in small clusters in moist shaded forests at this time of year in the Upper Delaware River region.

The  ghostly white or pale-pink translucence of the ghost plant can be attributed to the fact that this delicate pipe-like plant lacks chlorophyll and is unable to produce its own food.

So how does it survive? Do fairies come round to feed this forest phantom? Perhaps in some other realm, but in this one, ghost pipes participate in a three-part network to obtain the nutrients they need. 

It starts with certain trees (like American beech and pine), which obtain their nutrients from the sun through photosynthesis. The nutrients then pass through an unseen network of mycorrhizal fungi, which grow symbiotically in association with tree roots, acting as a bridge for the benefit of the parasitic ghost pipes.

With the aid of this fungal friend or host (specifically from the Russulaceae family), these delicate flowering delights thrive almost unobserved as we tramp through our mature forests.

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads,” wrote Henry David Thoreau. Nothing truer could be said for the ghost pipes emerging after recent rains, appearing here and there, as if coming from nowhere. 

Now you know the secret of their survival—finding a network of friends and tapping into what they have to offer. 

“I get by with a little help from my friends,” sang the Beatles. I may have heard some ghost pipes playing that familiar tune as I rambled along recently. Take a forest walk with a friend soon and watch for flowering ghosts before they disappear again as summer begins to wane.