One remarkable native parasitic US flower is the Ghost Pipe. It parasitizes the mycorrhizal interface between a fungus and plant. They are uncommon or rare, so I was overjoyed the first time I saw a little stand of them, having read about them years before. I did not pick any (please don’t), but I did want to feel their texture and was surprised to find them firm and waxy, not flimsy like I expected.
If you live near Philadelphia, you can find them under the right conditions in the Wissahickon Valley Park. I hiked there with friends and was shocked by how many we spotted just off trail; they were all over the place!
We have these in Maine too. I’ve always known them as indian pipeweed, although I suspect they aren’t called that anymore as it’s a bit culturally insensitive.
Yeah, I first learned of them under the name Indian Pipe, and a half hour later saw the Ghost Pipe alternative, so ran with that for that very reason. It’s also a more descriptive name, given how they look.
> Then there are mangroves whose trunk flattens out at the base; these trees stem from a branch at a low elevation — and they walk!...Is this tree really walking? When we walk, our physical mass moves as a whole. But no displacement of matter occurs with mangroves; the way they grow just makes it look that way. The “movement” is the growing process, four to five meters a year. The branch experiences necrosis and vanishes at one end, while it keeps developing on the other.
But not even that much I don't think. But perhaps you are thinking along the lines of a whole forest moving. Trees dying on one side, born on the other. Over a long timescale the forest 'walks'.
Well it does say "poetic" in the name of the book, which I own, and I would say "the way they grow just makes it look that way" would definitely poetically count as walking.
Rafflesia is, of course, well known in South-East Asia. But apparently, its name is more well known than what it is. In Singapore, there is a condominium named "Rafflesia" (next to the locally famous education institution, Raffles Institution) and I always wondered how the residents would react to know they are living in a place named after a smelly, parasitic plant. :-)
Anyone interested in learning more about the history and economics of rubber trees and ethnobotany is advised to watch this fantastic Wade Davis YouTube video [0] and I also highly highly recommend the book One River by the same speaker [1].
If you live near Philadelphia, you can find them under the right conditions in the Wissahickon Valley Park. I hiked there with friends and was shocked by how many we spotted just off trail; they were all over the place!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora