Indian Pipe (Ghost Flower): Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Headlands Trail (old visitor center), Wells, Maine, USA, August 2026 — The Indian Pipe plants are just beginning to emerge in the forests of Southern Maine. Yesterday I found my first sizable, healthy-looking patch, under the pines beside the trail at Rachel Carson. Indian Pipe, according to online sources, is a Mycmo-Heterotroph. It lacks any chlorophyll at all and steals its nutrients from the underground fiber networks of Russula and Lactarius mushrooms, which are themselves in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of mature trees. So the energy that keeps the Indian Pipe alive is produced by trees, bartered by mushrooms, and stolen by Indian Pipe. If that is not strange enough for you, I don’t know what would be. The fresh flowers always droop down toward the ground, but as they mature, they will turn up, showing off the black and gold parts, which attract bees and other pollinators. Because it needs no sunlight to grow, you find it in the deepest, darkest, mostly damp shades of the undergrowth. It always makes it a challenge to photograph without artificial light. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 Contemporary at 140mm equivalent. Aperture with Macro modifications, from my tiny carbon fiber tripod. Processed in Photomator.