RHH's photos with the keyword: sugarstick

These are the flowers of a very unusual plant called Candystick or Sugarstick, Allotropa virgata. The plant has no leaves and no chlorophyll, but puts up a 12-18 inch (30-45 cm) candy-striped flower spike in midsummer. In this example the lower flowers, which are white, are open showing the red pistil and ten blackish stamens. The upper flowers are unopened. The photo was taken by my wife along the Deer Park Road in Olympic National Park.

Candystick or Sugarstick, Allotropa virgata, is a saprophytic plant that feeds off decaying material in the soil and is without chlorophyll. It is fairly common in mixed or coniferous forests and these were photographed in the thick forests on Hoypus Hill near Deception Pass on the northern end of western Washington's Whidbey Island. Sadly when we went back to see them fully grown, some lout had destroyed them all, not entirely surprising, since they were right along one of the popular trails in that area. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/06/whidbey-isl...