Plant Talk: Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

By Patsy Cotterill

Ghost pipe or Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) has been reported from several local situations recently. Ghost pipe is unusual among plants in being a mycoheterotroph. Lacking chlorophyll, it cannot photosynthesize and so, like fungi and animals, must depend on green, photosynthetic plants (autotrophs, self-feeders) for its organic food (heterotrophy). 

Ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora) with the usual white stems, Battery Ravine, Devon, 2025-07-31. Photo: P. Cotterill.

Myco means fungus, and ghost pipe gets its sugars by way of fungal hyphae in the soil, which in turn receive them through a symbiotic association with the roots of green plants (mycorrhizae), usually trees. Ghost pipe, however, is thought to be a parasite, providing nothing in return to either the fungus or the tree. 

Its ghostly, white appearance arouses curiosity and misleads people into thinking it is a type of mushroom, especially as it later turns black. But it is a flowering vascular plant, with drooping flowers on single stalks that look like upended smoker’s pipes, and erect capsular fruits containing seeds. 

Ghost pipe is unreliable in putting in an appearance from year to year, and I speculate that this may have something to do with the fungal status of the soil. Perhaps this season's frequent rains have contributed to its strong showing this year.

Ghost pipe displaying the more unusual pinkish stems, as well as a number of (brown) erect capsules from the previous year (which would have contained seeds). Battery Ravine, Devon, 2025-07-31. Photo: M. Parseyan.