Ghost Pipe Flowers and Pine Sap
These translucent flowers are one of the most fascinating plants in the forest. These ghastly white plants are known as ghost pipe and they haunt the spooky parts of the forest. These plants have no chlorophyll and are sought after for their pain relieving properties.
The mysterious flowers emerge in summer often hidden in the leaf litter and sometimes they have a slight pink hue to them. These plants contain no chlorophyll similar to other plants like bear corn. Chlorophyll is what gives most plants their green color and allows them to transmute sunlight into nutrients.
At the first stage of development ghost pipe flowers will be curled up and facing downwards, often hidden under the leaf litter. As they start to reach maturity, they will begin to unfurl and slowly peek out from the forest floor. These flowers also have these kind of scaly petals that face upwards that go along the stem and the head of the flower. Most ghost pipe will be white, but there are some that are slightly pink. This is not to be confused with other similar species like pine sap, which I'll cover later.
Ghost pipe like most flowers are pollinated by bees and after this occurs the flowers will face upwards after a few days. The flowers will start to decay. As they dry out and decay, they'll start to form this purplish black color. These dead standing ghost pipes are an excellent scouting sign, if you're looking to find ghost pipe later in the season. Ghost pipe is a perennial flower that often grows in the same spot it grew the year before. So take that into consideration, if you're harvesting these flowers. You don't want to destroy the population, because it'll keep regenerating year after year. When i do harvest these plants i only take one or two flowers from very large clusters and I leave most of the clusters alone to complete their life cycle and reproduce.
Ghost pipe have no chlorophyll, so they rely on a relationship with mycelium in the soil to get their nutrients. So nutrients are exchanged from the roots of trees, then to mycelium, then to ghost pipe. You can often find it in the shadier parts of the forest because this flower doesn't need any sunlight. I often find these flowers in the highlands near mountain laurel and rhododendron trees and also in the lowlands near American beach and pine trees. You want to look for areas with a lot of russula and milk cap, when you're scouting for ghost pipe because these are the two mycelium that will exchange their nutrients with ghost pipe.
Now ghost pipe is known for its medicinal properties,mainly its pain relieving properties. Ghost pipe can alleviate some of our physical pain and make it more manageable. It is also a great sedative and it's helpful for anxiety or panic attacks. Traditionally, it was also used as an eye wash and an anti-convulsion. It is also said to help people process their emotional trauma, ghost pipe can help us see our emotional problems from a new perspective and process.
The best way to make use of its medicinal properties by creating a tincture or a tea. I suggest you make a tincture if you're going to use it. You’ll want to put the ghost pipe in a mason jar within 48 hours and cover it with 40% or higher alcohol. The tincture will turn purplish black within a few days, but you want to wait a full month and a half before straining this plant and completing the tincture. Once the tincture is ready, it's best to start with a few drops to see how it affects you. Once you understand how ghost pipe works with your body, you can increase the dosage, if you feel that's necessary.
Pine Sap - a Cousin of Ghost Pipe
Pine sap is the colorful cousin of ghost pipe and it comes in a variety of different colors from creamy white to yellow to pink to deep red. The plant can be easily distinguished by ghost pipe with its multiple flowers on a single stem. Pine sap can have 2 to 11 flowers on a single stem whereas ghost pipe will only have one flower per stem. The varieties of pine sap that come out in the early to mid summer are often lighter in color whereas the varieties of pines sap come out in the late summer and autumn are a deep red color.
There is also a subspecies called sweet pine sap that have a lavender color which is really cool. Pinesap’s medicinal properties aren't as well known, but historically they were used in a similar fashion to ghost pipe. Personally, i just like to admire this plant and i don't use it medicinally for teas or tinctures
