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Monotropa uniflora

20150809-K5ii-10606.jpg Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"Cluster of Monotropa unifloraThumbnails"Everybody knows you use MF for macro shots, dummy!"

This unusual flowering plant, which goes by such names as Indian Pipe, Ghost Flower, or Corpse Plant, is white because it lacks chlorophyll. It depends on a fungus for its nutrients; the fungus, in turn, depends on other plants.

Emily Dickinson called it "the preferred flower of life," and her first volume of poetry (published posthumously) had the flower on its cover.