A plant that bleeds
In the coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevada, a bizarre red spike pushes through the soil as the snow melts. This is Sarcodes sanguinea, the snow plant. Its scientific name translates from Greek and Latin to "bloody flesh-like thing," a name given by botanist John Torrey in 1853. The plant grows to between 15 and 30 centimeters (6 to 12 inches) tall and is entirely red or pinkish-red, from its scale-like leaves to its bell-shaped flowers.
This color is a clue to its unusual lifestyle. The snow plant has no chlorophyll and cannot perform photosynthesis. It is a mycoheterotroph, meaning it gets its energy from fungi. Specifically, it taps into the underground network of a fungus, which itself is in a symbiotic relationship with nearby conifer trees. The trees provide sugars to the fungus, and the snow plant effectively steals this energy from the fungus. This three-part relationship makes the snow plant a type of parasite, relying entirely on its neighbors for survival. It lives in moist and shaded forests at elevations between 1,000 and 3,100 meters (about 3,300 to 10,200 feet).
An underground map
The snow plant's parasitic relationship dictates its location. It can only grow where a specific ectomycorrhizal fungus, Rhizopogon ellenae, is present and connected to a host tree like a Red Fir. The plant's perennial, brittle root system remains underground, sending up the bright flower stalk in the same spot for many consecutive years. This predictability turned the plant into a natural landmark. Some Native American groups are said to have used the reliable appearance of snow plant colonies to navigate through the dense forests, year after year.
The plant’s structure is a single, stout stalk called a raceme, densely packed with downward-pointing, urn-shaped flowers. This orientation and the bright red color attract pollinators like hummingbirds and bumblebees. An insect visiting the flower may shake it, causing pollen to be released from pores at the tips of the stamens. After pollination, the flowers develop into capsules containing many tiny seeds. For a new plant to grow, a seed must land in leaf litter and make contact with the essential underground fungal network.