A thief in the forest network
The snow plant, Sarcodes sanguinea, is a plant that has abandoned photosynthesis. Entirely lacking chlorophyll, the green pigment that allows plants to create their own food, it is a bright scarlet color from its roots to its flowers. This plant gets its energy by stealing from a partnership between trees and fungi. In the shaded conifer forests of California, Oregon, and Nevada, it pushes through the pine needle litter in late spring, often as snow is melting.
This plant is a mycoheterotroph, meaning it feeds on fungi. It specifically targets mycorrhizal fungi that have a mutualistic relationship with conifers like pines and firs. The fungus extends its vast network of underground threads, called mycelia, to the tree's roots. The fungus provides the tree with water and minerals, and in return, the tree provides the fungus with sugars produced via photosynthesis. The snow plant hacks into this system, parasitizing the fungus to steal the sugars it gets from the conifer. This makes it an indirect parasite on the trees themselves, which is why it is always found growing near them.