Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Read about Monotropsis odorata (Pygmypipes, Sweet pinesap), in Devils Fork State Park, Oconee County, South Carolina by Jim Fowler.

Read more about Pygmy Pipes from Linda Chafin, Alan Weakley, and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.

As with its cousins in the genera Monotropa and Hypopitys, it is also saprophytic and lacks chlorophyll. This tiny species is often covered by fallen leaves and can thus be hard to spot, but it has a distinctive fragrance... Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

The distinctive pale purple petals are united into a bell-shaped tube. Read more at the Botanical Society of America.

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Monotropsis odorata   FAMILY Monotropaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America

Monotropsis odorata

INCLUDING VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 145-04-001:

Monotropsis odorata var. odorata   FAMILY Ericaceae

INCLUDING Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)

Monotropsis odorata var. lehmaniae

INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Monotropsis lehmaniae

INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Monotropsis odorata

COMMON NAME:
Appalachian Pygmy Pipes, Sweet Pinesap

         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_mood2_001_lvd

        

Diane Creaton    dmc01349

March    Oconee County    SC

Devils Fork State Park

The flowers' odor variously compared to cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon & violets, per Weakley's Flora (2012).

JK Marlow    jkm0403k_24

March    Oconee County    SC

Oconee State Park

Numerous fragrant purplish flowers barely extend past stem's brown scales, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

 COMPARE Indian Pipes, Pinesap and Pygmy Pipes

JK Marlow    jkm0403k_32

March    Oconee County    SC

Oconee State Park

A superior ovary with capitate [head-like] stigma, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

JK Marlow    jkm0403k_35

March    Oconee County    SC

Oconee State Park

Easily overlooked, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

Keith Bradley    kab_m_odorata_1802

March    Oconee County    SC

Devils Fork State Park

Keith Bradley    kab_m_odorata_1812

March    Oconee County    SC

Devils Fork State Park

JK Marlow    s040321_a

March    Oconee County    SC

Devils Fork State Park

The stems have many light brown overlapping scales in place of leaves, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

JK Marlow    jkm150424_751

April    Blount County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmmonotropsis_odorata

Month Unknown        

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Monotropsis odorata   FAMILY Ericaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Monotropsis odorata   FAMILY Monotropaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America
Monotropsis odorata

INCLUDING VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 145-04-001:
Monotropsis odorata var. odorata   FAMILY Ericaceae

INCLUDING Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)
Monotropsis odorata var. lehmaniae

INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Monotropsis lehmaniae

INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Monotropsis odorata