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.
Anatomy of a freeloader
The visible part of the snow plant is simply its flowering stalk, or inflorescence, which grows 15 to 30 centimeters tall. The majority of the plant exists underground as a dense cluster of short, knobby roots connected to its fungal host. The scientific name Sarcodes sanguinea, given by botanist John Torrey, translates from Greek and Latin to "bloody flesh-like thing," a graphic description of its appearance.
The stalk is covered in scale-like leaves and terminates in a dense cluster of 20 to 30 bell-shaped, five-petaled flowers. The plant's red color likely helps attract pollinators like bumblebees and hummingbirds in the dim forest understory. After pollination, the flowers develop into small fruits, each containing hundreds of tiny seeds. For a seed to germinate, it must land in the leaf litter and make contact with the specific type of fungus it needs to survive. Researchers have identified its primary fungal host as Rhizopogon ellenae, a type of truffle-like fungus, indicating a high degree of host specificity.