Pinesap - Monotropa hypopitys
Pinesap is a mycotroph, which means that it is a parasitic plant that obtains all its nutrients by stealing them from the roots of a tree. It does this not by entering the host directly, but with the help of a fungal intermediary. Like other mycotrophs, pinesap has no green tissues.
Habitat: Growing on the ground in a mixed forest
"Monotropa hypopitys" is a herbaceous perennial plant. Unlike most plants, it does not contain chlorophyll; it is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis. These fungi form a mycorrhiza with nearby tree species.
Similar species: Ericales
By Christine Young
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Uploaded Dec 27, 2019. Captured Aug 10, 2019 08:53 in 91 Main St, Sharon, CT 06069, USA.
comments (4)
First, I think it's odd that parasitic plants are usually (I think) dicots, and not monocots. I don't know much about plants in general, so maybe there is an explanation for that.
There are so many unanswered questions though. Where did the genes for the haustorium (the parasitic plant's root that it uses to attach to a host) come from? How and when and why was that information added? How do the parasitic plants sense an appropriate host, and when and why did they "decide" it was a good idea to parasitize?
Some hosts put out defensive chemicals and volatiles that warn other plants that a parasite is present, to attract herbivores that will eat the parasitic plant, etc. Amazing, right?!
Maybe the whole relationship started out as mutualism, but mutation changed the nature of the relationship over time. The DNA of parasitic plants is known to have a higher mutation rate than non-parasitic plants have. Why?! To keep changing in order to stay dominant in the parasite-prey relationship? Losing chloroplasts is a good example here (chloroplasts have chlorophyll, which is needed for photosynthesis). Why did plants like Indian Pipe and Pinesap lose chlorophyll? Or, did they never have it in the first place? It would seem beneficial to have chlorophyll, even for a parasitic plant because then you can make your own food if you can't find a host plant. After all, a parasitic plant needs to attach to a host plant really quickly after germination or else it will die. So, was losing chloroplasts really beneficial, or is it just a case of genetic entropy (the degeneration of genomes as a result of mutations).
I don't have the answers, of course, but it's so much fun to think about all these things and the complexities of chemical ecology in regards to parasitic relationships. Posted 5 years ago