Hypopitys monotropa - (image 1 of 7)
Taxonomy
Family: Rubiaceae
Synonymous with Monotropa hypopithys L.
Habitat
Moist to dry woods, mostly in acid soil.
Associates
Parasitic on mycorrhizal fungi, usually associated with pines or oaks.
Distribution
Interruptedly circumboreal, south in the Americas to FL and Mexico.
Morphology
Mycoheterotrophic perennial; stems 10-30 cm, often clustered, yellow or light brown (also pink or red if H. lanuginosa is included), more or less pubescent; raceme dense, at first nodding then erect at anthesis; flowers 8-18 mm, the lower usually 4-merous, the terminal often larger and 5-merous; sepals lanceolate, erect, unlike the basally saccate petals; anthers opening by a single cleft into 2 unequal valves; style shorter than the ovary; stigma more or less villous at the margin (more so in H. lanuginosa if treated as a separate species).
Notes
Flowers June to August
Wetland indicator: NA
Similar to Monotropa uniflora but with hairy stems and flowers in racemes rather than solitary. Plants that are pink or red that flower later in the year are sometimes treated as H. lanuginosa and the last three images are of plants approaching that.
References
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
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Michael Hough © 2018 |