Hypopitys monotropa
(formerly Monotropa hypopitys¹)

Pinesap

[ click on any image below to see larger version ]

Family: Ericaceae (Heath family)

Mid-Atlantic bloom time: May - October
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe: July - November

Pinesap is similar in overall appearance to Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), but with more than one flowering head on each stalk. Like Indian Pipe, Pinesap's flowering heads droop initially, then turn upright, giving it its species name monotropa, meaning "once-turned". Two color variations exist, with yellow-tawny plants usually appearing in late spring to early summer, and pink or reddish plants appearing in the late summer to fall.

Recent DNA evidence places it in a separate genus from Monotropa^1,2.

yellow variant  ::  spring - early summer blooming
9 June 2019 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA (yellow form typical of spring & early summer)	9 June 2019 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA (yellow form typical of spring & early summer)	8 July 2022 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	8 July 2022 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA
pink-red variant  ::  late summer - autumn blooming
22 September 2017 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Landmark, VA	21 August 2014 Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN (pink/reddish form typical of autumn & late summer)	22 September 2017 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Landmark, VA	10 September 2022 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA
22 September 2017 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Landmark, VA	2 October 2015 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA (flower heads upturned)	28 September 2024 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	28 September 2024 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA
residual seed capsules
20 January 2023 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	15 July 2023 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	20 January 2023 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	20 January 2023 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA

References

1:   Zhen-Wen Liu, Qian-Ru Zhao, Hua Peng, Jing Zhou. "(2545) Proposal to conserve the name Hypopitys (Ericaceae) with a conserved type". TAXON 66 (4), August 2017: 987–988. (PDF at Wiley Online Library)

2:   M. I. Bidartondo, T. D. Bruns. "Extreme specificity in epiparasitic Monotropoideae (Ericaceae): widespread phylogenetic and geographical structure". Molecular Ecology 10:9, September 2001: 2285-2295.

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