What do all these plants have in common?

These are all flowering plants that lack the green pigment chlorophyll. Because they cannot make their own food through photosynthesis, these heterotrophs (“other-feeding”) have to get energy from other organisms and can thrive in very shady areas.

One group of heterotrophs, root parasites like beechdrops, broomrape and bear corn, get their nutrients directly from the roots of another plant. 

Beechdrops insert a root-like structure, haustorium – Latin for “one who draws, drains or drinks” – into the roots of American beech trees to absorb nutrients.
A one-flowered broomrape seedling must find suitable plant roots to parasitize (sedums, saxifrages, goldenrods, and others) within a few days of germinating or it will die.
Bear corn grows only where it can be connected to oak roots. 

Other heterotrophs, also known as fungus flowers like ghost plant (Monotropa uniflora) and pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys), receive nourishment indirectly from fungi connected to a photosynthetic plant. These mycoheterotrophs get all their energy from fungi without providing anything in exchange (unlike mutualistic mycorrhizal relationships).

Ghost plants get their nutrients indirectly from beech and pine trees through an intermediary fungus.
Often found under pine trees, pinesap taps into mycorrhizal fungi to obtain nutrients.

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