Indian Pipe

I took a walk is the wonderful Western Oregon Forest near my home yesterday I got this picture of the ghostly Indian Pipe.


Indian Pipe

Indian Pipe is a saprophyte:

any plant that depends on dead plant or animal tissue for a source of nutrition and metabolic energy, e.g., most fungi (molds) and a few flowering plants, such as Indian pipe and some orchids. Most saprophytes do not produce chlorophyll and therefore do not photosynthesize; they are thus dependent on the food energy they absorb from the decaying tissues, which they help to break down.

I'm going to avoid making a comparison to the Bush administration.