It is a plant, just of a sort that has turned to parasitism I suppose for its nutrients. I believe they are part of a larger family of plants named saprophytes.
Comment on put that in your pipe and smoke it
ColdWater@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
So is it in anyway related to mushroom?
Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Ledericas@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
The other person is correct in calling it a mycohrtetotroh, sporophyte implies it lives of decaying plant matter which it doesn’t. Plants like these are interesting, no chlorophyll, what your seeing is only the flower and stem, the leaves are highly vestigial, there’s no main stem
crypt0cler1c@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
Ghost Pipe is a fungi.
juliebean@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
it’s a plant, but rather than photosynthesizing, it is what’s called a mycoheterotroph, which means it gets its nutrients by siphoning stuff from fungal networks in the soil, so, sorta?