Why was this herb called a corpse?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
January 31, 2003
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Suggested Reading – Plus White Dragonflower, Madonna Lily, & more—>Click here.
Indian pipes were named Monotropa uniflora "one-turn, single-flower" by Linnaeus in 1753. The pipes are apparently parasitic on fungi that have mycorrhizal relationships with photosynthesizing (green) plants. The visible portions are the 'Indian pipes', the flowering scapes seen in summer after a soaking rain.
Lacking chlorophyll, the scapes are found only in deep shade and appear a ghostly white. In American Medicinal Plants (1892, reprinted 1974, Dover Publications), Charles F. Millspaugh listed the name ice plant for the scapes appear to melt, "The whole plant when wounded—especially, however, the floral envelope—emits a clear glutinous fluid."
Millspaugh seemed to favor another name for he explained, "This curious herb well deserves its name of corpse plant, so like is it to the general bluish waxy appearance of the dead, then, too, it is cool and clammy to the touch, and rapidly decomposes...even when carefully handled."
Typical of parasitic plants are their 'ability' to defy lifelike preservation as herbarium specimens. Millspaugh added this observation, "Attempts to preserve it in alcohol turn it a bluish-black, and tinge the preservative a deep reddish-violet hue, while the drying process turns it jet-black, leaving very little semblance to its natural appearance."
North Carolina Natural has a great photograph of Indian pipes and the Cherokee legend of how the plant got that name. To view the photograph and read the legend, click on the link:
http://ncnatural.com/wildflwr/indnpipe.html
Series: | 1 | | 2 |
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
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