Snowplant
Sarcodes sanguinea
Because it lacks chlorophyll, the snowplant cannot photosynthesize; it steals all its energy and nutrients from underground fungi.
- Scientific name
- Sarcodes sanguinea
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Ericales › Ericaceae › Sarcodes
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Montane coniferous forests, growing in deep pine needle litter.
- Diet
- Mycoheterotrophic (absorbs nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi associated with pine trees).
- Range
- Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, San Jacinto Mountains, Baja California
- Size
- 15 to 30 cm tall
- Lifespan
- Perennial (the underground structures live for decades, while the red stalk lasts only a few weeks).
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Soil compaction from off-trail recreation, climate change altering snowpack levels, and habitat loss.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. Admire this striking plant from a safe distance without stepping on the surrounding soil, as compaction damages the delicate underground fungal networks it relies on. Do not attempt to pick or transplant it; it lacks chlorophyll and will die immediately without its host fungi.
Sarcodes is a monotypic genus of a north-west American, springtime, flowering plant in the heath family (Ericaceae), containing the single species Sarcodes sanguinea , commonly called the snow plant or snow flower . It is a parasitic plant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach to roots of trees. Lacking chlorophyll, it is unable to photosynthesize. Ectomycorrhizal (EM) symbioses involve a mutualism between a plant root and a fungus; the plant provides fixed carbon to...
Photo: Roberto Daniel Avila, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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