Flowers. But whose? 1 August 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

4 August 2026

On Saturday afternoon someone told me that if I went down a certain path I’d see flowers that I’d never seen before. Indeed they are unusual.

Today a Quiz. Whose flowers are these? Who is their primary pollinator?

Please leave a comment with your answer. I’ll store up your comments and provide the answer later today.

The Answer. UPDATE: 8/4, 11:11am

Everyone correctly identified the flower as “American Indian ghost pipe plant” which I call “Indian pipe” and some people call “ghost plant” (Monotropa uniflora), a ghost because it has no chlorophyll to make it green.

Regarding pollinators, Wikipedia says:

The flowers of M. uniflora are visited by various bee and fly species, most commonly bumblebees. Bumblebees are an important pollen dispersal agent for the plant, crawling into the flower for pollen.

Cool Facts and Down the Rabbit Hole:

Since Indian pipe has no chlorophyll it’s a parasite on other plants. Its hosts are fungi in the Russulaceae family. At the time I took the flower picture I did not know this so I didn’t look for mushrooms. What might they have looked like?

The flowers are in Slippery Rock Twp, Butler County so I searched iNaturalist for Russula species in the same township in August. This one was photographed in August 2023 at Wolf Creek Narrows, posted to iNaturalist by spamanda. It has not yet been identified to the species level in iNaturalist.

Russula Brittlegills fungi at Wolf Creek Narrows, 27 Aug 2023, iNaturalist entry by spamanda