|
The Ghost plant (Monotropa uniflora) belongs to the family Monotropaceae. It is a perennial herb that is native to Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan, as well as East Asia, North America and northern South America. This herb grows in dark environments as in the understory of dense forest, and it can reach 10-30 mm in height. The whole plants are white and do not contain chlorophyll. It is a parasite and its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees. The flowering stalk is borne from rootstocks and the solitary flower bloom sideways from August to October. The edge of petals are fine dissected. The fruit is capsule and upright. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "單花錫杖花", and "水晶蘭" (shui jing lan) in Chinese.
In Korean, it's called "su-jeong-nan-pul" (수정난풀). This is a compound word consisting of "crystal" (su-jeong: 수정) + "orchid" (nan: 난) + "grass" (pul: 풀).
|