Hello all!!
Being a Chef you get interested in all sorts of things. Obviously the food we eat comes from nature that is all around us… 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
From the days when hunting and gathering were the ways to feed yourself and you family… to small scale cultivating and farming to feed your community… to today’s larger commercial farming that ships food around the country and around the world… food is what drives us. It’s one of the most basic necessities of all life on the planet. Wether you are a carnivore, and herbivore or somewhere in between, you need nourishment to sustain life.
Now… again, being a Chef, your senses are always open to the nature around you. Why right here at Camp we have wild Blueberries growing! Sassafras trees whose roots can make a delicious tea (if made correctly).
But a note of warning… do not eat something you find in the wild unless you can absolutely positively confirm exactly what it is. Many plants in nature can look inviting because of it’s color or scent but can be poisonous or deadly.
So here at Camp, my eyes are always peeled… checking out the flora and fauna… and I’m always excited to find something new or rare… and that’s exactly what is pictured above.
The “Ghost Plant” or “Indian Pipe” is a herbaceous perennial plant (which means it comes back year after year without the need to replant it). Here at Camp I have found some in a few areas. In places that go undisturbed they can come back for a very long time. They produce a stem with short leaves that hug the stem and a single flower on top.
The “Ghost Plant”… or Monotropa uniflora as it’s Latin name… has a milky white coloration and thrives in dark or shaded areas. It is classified as a parasitic type of plant that draws it’s nutrients from another source other than the sun. It does not produce chlorophyll like most plants hence the lack of a green color that is presented in most plant life. The Ghost Plant feeds on certain fungi that are symbiotic with specific trees… meaning the conditions must be quite precise for the Ghost Plant to grow. It does ultimately receive it’s energy from photosynthesis of the tree through the complex relationship but still maintains it’s milky white, almost translucent appearance. Because the conditions have to be very specific it only grows in temperate regions of Asia, North and South America with large gaps between it’s areas of propagation.
The Ghost Plants that grow at Camp tend to be white with black flecks up and down the stem and on the leaves but other variations can have a slightly rosy coloration and some extremely rare versions have a dark red color.
Well… enough about science… when you are out hiking around Camp… keep your eyes open for all that mother nature has to offer… from the tallest pine tree that creates our canopy down to the smallest strangest plants growing under cabins and in dense dark areas around Camp. And remember… DO NOT eat something that you can not identify as safe.
Be good…
Chef Jason
P.S… By the way… the Ghost Plant in this picture grows like clockwork under the deck on the front side of the Matolly Dining Hall back near the kitchen (near the steps). Take a look next time you wander by in the mid to late summer.