Species introCountry intro
Snow Plant
Indian pipes and snow plants, for example, live like fungi, extracting energy from organic matter, yet are closely related to blueberries and Rhododendrons (family Ericaceae). Fungi have been excluded from the Plant Kingdom because genetically they are more closely related to animals. Snow plants and Indian pipes, however, have flowers similar to those of the blueberry and DNA sequencing confirms that they belong in the same family.
''Sarcodes'' is a monotypic genus of a single springtime flowering plant in the heath family containing the single species ''Sarcodes sanguinea'', commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. It is a parasitic plant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach to roots of trees. Lacking chlorophyll, it is unable to photosynthesize. Ectomycorrhizal symbioses involve a mutualism between a plant root and a fungus; the plant provides fixed carbon to the fungus and in return,.. more
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