Flowers Planted in Soil Fungus
- Flowers that grow in soil fungus thrive in tropical and temperate forest environments.Ryan McVay/Lifesize/Getty Images
Soil fungi make up a large and diverse group of living organisms, many of which form beneficial relationships with plants, trees and flowers. Flowers planted in soil fungus have adapted to limited sunlight exposure by drawing their nutrients from fungus organisms. The types of flowers that use this adaptive function include the Indian pipe, orchid and heath families of flowers. - Flowers that form beneficial relationships with fungus organisms are classified as mycotrophic wildflowers, meaning they rely on fungi for nutritional sustenance. According to Palomar Community College, many resemble mushrooms. The Indian pipe family makes up the largest group of fungi-dependent flowers. Members of the Indian pipe family include the gnome plant, the California pinesap and the fringed pinesap, all of which have a ghost-white appearance and flesh-like, bulbous flower heads. Mycotrophic wildflowers typically grow inside tropical and temperate forest environments that provide limited sunlight exposures for ground-surface plants. Mycotrophic wildflowers lack the chlorophyll pigments needed to carry out the plant's photosynthesis, or food-manufacturing processes.
- The orchid family makes up the second-largest group of flowers. According to Palomar Community College, certain species of orchid flowers have adapted inside forest environments by forming beneficial relationships with soil fungus organisms. These flowers appear within tropical and temperate areas, such as the Pacific Northwest and the San Diego County forest regions. The fungi-dependent orchid species include the coral-root orchid and the phantom orchid. The phantom orchid has a pale, ghostly appearance and grows inside shady forest environments, such as the Pacific Northwest forest. Coral-root orchids grow out of fungus organisms that feed off nearby tree roots. This food chain effect is typical for mycotrophic wildflowers, which derive their photosynthetic nutrients from nearby tree roots by living off the fungi that grow from the tree roots.
- The heath family was once considered a part of the pyrolaceae family of flowers, which manufacture their own nutrients through photosynthesis while also deriving nutrients from soil fungi. Heath family flowers were eventually placed in their own separate classification once their total dependence on fungus organisms became apparent. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the heath family contains nine different species of flowers that each form highly specific relationships with certain types of fungi. The snow plant flower only grows in areas where a certain species of rhizopogon fungus is present. The pinedrop flower also requires a certain species of rhizopogon fungus in order to take root and grow. Both flower types grow inside coniferous forests like those found along the Western portion of the United States, though other heath family varieties can grow in hardwood forests as well.
