Botanical Glossary - Home

Hypopitys Monotropa (Pinesap) on the shady side of a rotting stump beside Halvor Lunden Trail in Buntzen Lake Park near Anmore (Port Moody). This unusual looking plant is a fleshy saphrophyte and grows up to 18 inches in height, is unbranched, yellow to pink or orange-red in color, drying black. Leaves are small and scale-like, linear or spoon-shaped, clearish without green colors, crowded near the base. The flowers are similar to color of stem, sometimes more whitish in a terminal cluster that nods at first till the plant matures, then it will usually lean to one side. Found in humus beneath trees in coniferous forest in middle elevations.

Monotropa Hypopitys, also known as Dutchman's Pipe, or Yellow Bird's-nest, is a herbaceous perennial plant, formerly classified in the family Monotropaceae, but now included within the Ericaceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but is generally scarce or rare, and is endangered in many areas.

Unlike most plants, it does not contain chlorophyll; it is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis. Thus it is capable of living in very dark conditions, such as the floor of a deep forest, because it does not need any sunlight.

The flowers are pendulous, 9–12 mm long, produced in a cluster of 2–11 together at the apex of the stem. It flowers between early summer and mid autumn; plants that flower in summer tend to be yellow, while those that flower in autumn are more often reddish.

The species name is sometimes misspelled"hypopithys". The variability of the species in the color on the stem and flowers, and the number of flowers per stem, has led to an extensive synonymy for the species; synonyms include Hypopitys Americana, H. fimbriata, H. insignata, H. lanuginosa, H. latisquama, H. monotropa, Monotropa chinensis, M. hypophegea, M. lanuginosa, M. latisquama, M. multiflora and M. taiwaniana.