Family, Heath. Color, red or somewhat brownish. Flowers, several in 1-sided racemes, the terminal flower with its parts in fives, the others with 3 or 4 sepals and petals. At first nodding, the spike of flowers becomes erect. Stamens, 6 to 10. Ovary, 3 to 5-celled. No leaves, but a succession of colored bracts overlapping one another at the base of the thick stem, which arises from a dense cluster of fleshy, fibrous roots. Stem, 10 to 12 inches high. June to October.

There is a pleasant fragrance about the flowers. The plant is a parasite, as is revealed by the total absence of green chlorophyll grains in any of its parts. In almost any pine or oak woods, open or heavy, looking in the distance like a group of fungi. They have a wide range over the United States from New England to Florida. (See illustration, p. 277.)

Pinesap. False Beech Drops. (Monotropa Hypopitis)