Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Indian Pipes

Indian Pipes, also known as Ghost Flower or Ice Plant, is not an easy wildflower to photograph because of its whiteness. Most Indian Pipes are white in colour but some also have a pinkish tinge with a few black flecks. Indian Pipes are lacking in chlorophyll and this accounts for its whitish apperance. This flowering plant gets it nourishment mainly from decaying roots of trees, instead of from sunlight.

15 comments:

Leora said...

Thanks for explaining on why they are not green (no chlorophyll, get nourishment elsewhere). And, yes, I've struggled with white subjects, I've made it a point to photograph anything white now, just to try. Lovely selection of photos.

Mary said...

Very pretty and as usual you gave us all sorts of neat information about them! I imagine they are hard to spot.....but you have a good eye for the hard to spot :-) And great photos!

Anonymous said...

What beauties - and all 3 names suit them very well. They look like ghostly, icy little pipes!

Becky said...

That's a really cool post Ann. I think I might have seen these before and didn't know what they were. I'll be on the look-out for them.
Thanks for explaining about them being so white.

Ruth said...

I have heard of these but have never seen them. I am glad to hear others have difficulty photographing white, but your images are flawless.

kjpweb said...

You did good! Never heard of these Flowers!
Cheers, Klaus

bobbie said...

I love Indian pipe. Have only seen them at Leaming's Run Gardens - a nice little surprise in among the trees.

Geraldine said...

What interesting, delicate flowers. Thanks for sharing these and all your beautiful photos, with all of us!

www.mypoeticpath.wordpress.com


PS: My butterfly post is now up. Hope you will stop by soon. :<)

Rambling Woods said...

What an interesting plant. I had never heard of it Ann..

Anonymous said...

Stunning photos. Thanks for introducing me to the Indian Pipe.

Anonymous said...

I've never seen or heard of these before. The first shot reminds me of those paper pom-poms I used to make in grade school out of crepe paper.

Kay said...

Wow! This is so neat. Thanks for sharing.

abbey meadows said...

What a beautiful plant. Looks like Ghost orchid that we have over here.

Margaret Cloud said...

Sorry but they look like kleenexs posed, very pretty.

Anonymous said...

You write very well.