I was delighted to see some Spotted Coralroot plants on the mountain last week and it brought up a couple of questions. How do plants that fully depend on fungal hosts reproduce? I understand they are flowering plants and require pollinators but after fruiting, how does the new plant find a host …

[image] edith1111: I understand they are flowering plants and require pollinators but after fruiting, how does the new plant find a host and get itself established Consider that many (if not all) orchids, either mycoheterotrophic or not, need a helper fungus to make their embryos grow. They a…

How do they acquire that fungus?

Often, the fungal partners are pervasive in the environment. For example, with snowplants (Sarcodes sanguinea), they tap into the mycorrhizal networks in the roots of conifer forests. As long as the snowplants are propagating within the extent of the fungal network they can obtain the sugar and nutr…

[image] edith1111: Do they get all of their other nutrients from their host fungi or can they absorb them via their roots? This hurts my brain a little to think about, but do mycoheterotrophic plants have separate mycorrhizal relationships too? Let’s see if I can help with the others. Just n…

My question had to do with nutrients other than sugar: how do mycoheterotrophs obtain nitrogen, phosphorus, trace elements, etc. Yes, the last question had to do with secondary mycorrhizal networks. Thank you for clearing that up :slightly_smiling_face:

Mycoheterotrophic Plants

Nature Talk

edith1111 May 14, 2025, 8:09am 5

Thank you, @screedius!

That takes care of question 1 :)

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Mycoheterotrophic Plants

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