Native Plants
![](../_images/smarty_plants.gif)
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
![](../_images/mr_smarty_plants_logo_web_200w.jpg)
rate this answer
![](../_images/star_00.gif)
Saturday - August 23, 2008
From: Rapid City, SD
Region: Midwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Weird-looking rootless plant, perhaps a fungus
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
While out it my backyard (i.e. the Black Hills of South Dakota), I spotted a weird-looking rootless plant (I think it may be a fungus) growing beneath the Ponderosa Pines. It was the only one in the area and the only one I've ever seen. Anyway, further identifying features: ~18 inch stem -- bright pink and sticky Inverted yellow bell-like "flowers" at the top with not many "leaves" to speak of I know fungi aren't plants, but do you have any idea what it is?ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants believes you saw Pterospora andromedea (woodland pinedrops). Here is more information from Michigan Natural Features Inventory and here are some more photos. It is a very interesting plant since it has no chlorophyll and can't make its own food. it forms an association with a mychorrihizal fungus which is then associated with tree roots, generally pine tree roots. Botanists consider it to be saprophytic (living on dead organic matter), instead of parasitic on the pine tree or, alternatively, parasitic on the fungus. There is also the thought that this is a beneficial relationship with the mychorrhizal fungus in which the fungus increases the supply of nutrients to the plant by increasing the surface area by which it can absorb decaying matter. The fungus may benefit by using some of the carbohydrates that the plant produces. Such plants that associate with mychorrhizal fungi are called mycotrophic plants.
Here are some more flowers that resemble fungus.
Here are mycotrophic orchids that occur in South Dakota.
Corallorhiza odontorhiza (autumn coralroot)
Corallorhiza maculata (summer coralroot)
Corallorhiza striata (hooded coralroot)
Corallorhiza trifida (yellow coralroot)
Corallorhiza wisteriana (spring coralroot)
More Plant Identification Questions
Plant identification
July 08, 2010 - Found in a cedar swamp near Wolverine Michigan. Large dinner plate size flat green leaf on a mottled green and brown fleshy stem of about 8 or 10 inches. I first thought it was a tri-leaf plant but it...
view the full question and answer
Dfferences between Argemone arizonica and other Argemones
October 27, 2005 - I am trying to find information about the differences
between the Argemone
arizonica which grows only in the Grand Canyon and the
other Argemones
which grow in the rest of the U.S. Do you have any...
view the full question and answer
Sumac Leaves Turning Red
November 22, 2013 - Hi, Mr. Smarty Plants,
I recently planted a flowering sumac bush. Is it normal for that plant to get fall leaf-color?
About a week after planting it, the temp reached the mid-30s, and after that, I ...
view the full question and answer
Larkspur with pink and white flowers
July 26, 2014 - Hi - I have been photographing larkspurs (mainly D. bicolor) in Montana for years now and I found one that I can't identify. The leaves and flower structure all appear to be D. bicolor, but the flow...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification, Chinese Lantern
September 06, 2007 - I have a plant growing along my fenceline that I am unsure of what it is. Some ppl have said it is a rare Chinese Lantern plant. I looked that up and it doesn't match. The plant right now sits about ...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |