Beech-drops, Henne

Every month of the growing season features a botanical oddity—a plant devoid of chlorophyll, the pigment that powers the green world. Since this strange group lacks the ability to make food, its members, the best known of which is the ghost plant known as the Indian Pipe, are essentially parasites and make their livings off of the toil of various hosts. This one, common in the autumn woods, is called Beechdrops, and it thrives by tapping into the nutrient flow in Beech tree roots. Epifagus virginiana is mostly brown and nondescript—easily overlooked in the shadowlands it favors—but it has pretty little flowers that, the first time I spotted it, appeared to resemble diminutive orchids. That resemblance vanishes on close inspection and, it turns out, E. virginiana may be pollinated by ants, not bees. Life style mysteries notwithstanding, when the sunlight penetrates the forest floor, Beechdrops glows in the dark.