
Non-Green Plants (2013) - sillybilly
https://plantsandprejudice.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/how-do-non-green-plants-work/
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pierrec
I remember seeing quite a bit of disturbing imagery when researching
mycotrophic plants (which get nutrients from soil fungi and frequently don't
have any cholrophyll). Maybe it's because they lack the usual green and leafy
identifying features of plants. Some of them are bordering on the nightmarish.

 _Hydnora africana_ is mentioned in the article:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=Hydnora+africana&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=Hydnora+africana&tbm=isch)

 _Monotropa uniflora_ : [https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49477-Monotropa-
uniflora](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49477-Monotropa-uniflora)

~~~
pierrec
For some reason, I just made the connection to the flowers of Minas Morgul,
whose description I always loved. Now I can confirm, there are definitely some
mycotrophic plants on the foothills of Mordor:

" _Wide flats lay on either bank, shadowy meads filled with pale white
flowers. Luminous these were too, beautiful and yet horrible of shape, like
the demented forms in an uneasy dream; and they gave forth a faint sickening
charnel-smell; an odour of rottenness filled the air._ "

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Merrill
On the other hand, there are non-plants that are green and have chloroplasts.
I cultured them from pond water in high school Biology. Interesting creatures.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglena](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglena)

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mr_toad
Seaweed has chloroplasts and is multicellular, but many species aren’t plants
or green. Nature is diverse.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_algae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_algae)

~~~
slavik81
Though, these days they're technically not plants. Red and brown algae have
been moved out of the kingdom of Plantae, as they are believed to have
developed photosynthesis independently.

~~~
slavik81
If I could edit out that first sentence, I would. You already mentioned that.
My apologies.

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sarah2079
Here's an interesting parasitic plant that you can find in the Bay Area:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscuta_californica](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscuta_californica)

It's so bright orange that at first I wondered if it was spray paint left
behind from construction. There's loads of it around the Bay Trail behind
Google.

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antx
Another example is the "Indian pipe", Monotropa_uniflora. It's completely
white, and very beautiful. It is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through
parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis.

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malingo
I learned about this recently from a Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't youtube
video, searching for rare ferns on Mt Shasta:
[https://youtu.be/h0Eor4YaO2U?t=541](https://youtu.be/h0Eor4YaO2U?t=541)

The narration is mildly NSFW, depending on which part of the video you watch;
the video footage itself is 100% SFW.

I learned about the CPBBD channel from a HN post a month ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041193](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041193)
\-- he's a very sharp botanist and his coarse language and heavy-duty Chicago
accent all make for entertaining videos.

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daveslash
After moving to Southern California I stumbled across these while hiking in
the mountains. At first I was sure that they were a fungus. Turns out, they're
a plant. Red, parasitic, plants.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcodes)

Edit: Another similar plant which grow all around where I grew up in Maine
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora)

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strainer
Medical herbalist, Yarrow Willard enthuses about these 'saprophytes' in this
video[1] Many will find his outlook completely fanciful ( he says they are
nervines of the forest) but I think its positive and he is experienced in
ways.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8s01q0Ojk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8s01q0Ojk)

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Meerax
Doing some reading through wiki about non-green plants I came across
thermogenic plants. Not only can some plants exists without chlorophyll, some
can also regulate their temperature.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis)

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dmm10
Squawroot is another oddly beautiful parasitic plant. It relies on the roots
of living trees for sustenance.

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undersuit
White asparagus are just sprouts that have never seen the sun.

