User:Bakkster Man/Indian pipe

Monotropa uniflora, known as indian pipe, is a flowering plant that does not produce chlorophyll and instead subsists as a Saprotroph, drawing it's nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, which in turn draw their energy from plants. Indian pipe is a small white plant rising several inches with a straight stalk and a single downturned flower which causes the plant to resemble a pipe that has been stuck into the ground. Because uniflora does not photosynthesize it has small vestigial leaves which look like scales. The white color of the plant also led to it's being named the "corpse plant". Monotropa uniflora is most often found in damp, shaded areas because of it's dependence on fungi and lack of reliance directly upon the sun's energy.