Recent rains have brought us ghosts. I should say these ghost plants, otherwise called Indian pipes (Monotropa uniflora).
They are not fungi; they’re uncommon wildflowers that mysteriously survive without chlorophyll. They usually are white, sometimes pink, and rarely red. They’re ethereal plants that appear in moist woods:
They’re also the subject of an alleged Native American legend and Emily Dickenson’s writings.
A Cherokee tribe legend relates that the plants were the spirits of warring chiefs who smoked peace pipes, but refused to compromise and make peace. The Great Spirit was not pleased and was said to have transformed these egocentric men into a colorless group that paid no attention to each other – they became ghost plants.
As for Emily Dickinson, this uncommon plant reportedly was her favorite flower. (Emily could be “different.”) She tried collecting them as a young woman, according to her history.
More significantly, a group of ghost flowers in silhouette was the sole illustration on the cover of Emily’s first book of poetry. One of her poems uses the flower as a simile for whiteness. And, in one of her letters, she called the ghost plant/Indian pipe “the preferred flower of life.” I’ve been unable to find a reliable explanation of what she meant by that enigmatic statement. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on August 11, 2024.)