Pink, coral-like plants emerging from a bed of green moss and twigs in a forest setting. Background contains blurred trees and foliage, suggesting a woodland environment. The plants have a spiky appearance and are clustered together in a natural arrangement.
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@nisemikol
175 Photos185 Followers325 Following

*Hemitomes congestum* (w.wiki/UH7) lacks chlorophyll because it gets its nutrients by parasitizing fungi. Very cool find on a summer's evening.

Withholding location data for this rare plant, but let me know if you're a conservationist or scientist working with rare plants in the area and I'll happily let you know where I found these little cuties.

Nature
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
Samsung Galaxy S23
Samsung Galaxy S23 Rear Wide Camera
5mmf/1.81/120sISO 1000
Flash did not fire
Adobe Lightroom 10.4.1 (Android)
6/9/25, 1:25 AM
12/2/25, 2:28 PM
10
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Carolannie
@carolannie@c.im

@nisemikol ive spotted some in Oregon. Aren't they special!

2 hours ago
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nisemikol
@nisemikol

@carolannie@c.im they really are! I've come across other mycoheterotrophic plants—namely *Monotropa uniflora* and *Pterospora andromedea*—on numerous occasions, but this has been my only sighting of *H. congestum* to date. I'm always on the lookout, though, and hopefully I'll come across more eventually 👀

2 hours ago
Comment liked by 1 person.