I’ve started to see Indian Pipe in the forest. This strange plant, also known as the Ghost Plant of the Corpse Plant, has no chlorophyll, the special sauce that makes plants green. These plants have a specific relationship with trees and fungus. Unlike plants with chlorophyll, Indian Pipe can’t make it’s own food. Instead it robs nutrients from mycelia, the thread-like body of a fungus. The fungus in turn has a special relationship with a tree. The fungus and the tree have a mycorrhizal relationship, which means that they help one another achieve nutrients. On the other hand, the Indian Pipe takes but does not give back. The Indian Pipe likes Russula and Lactarium mushrooms, both of which happen to be hosts for the lobster mushroom parasite, hypomyces lactoflorum. That tells me that when I see Indian Pipe, maybe I should be looking carefully for lobsters.