The spooky ghost pipe wildflower blooms straight out of the earth with white stems and flowers, and turns black with age. Feels like it’s straight out of Stranger Things!
“This unusual plant – and it is a plant – flowers in dark coniferous forests because it doesn’t need sunlight for photosynthesis,” says the National Park Service. “Instead, it has a parasitic relationship with fungi in the soil that in turn get energy from tree roots.”
These flowers were photographed in Mount Rainier National Park but ghost pipes are found across North America.
NATIONAL PARK NEWS
