Monotropa coccinea
| Monotropa coccinea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Monotropa coccinea amidst poison ivy leaves | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Embryophytes |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Monotropa |
| Species: | M. coccinea |
| Binomial name | |
| Monotropa coccinea | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
List
| |
Monotropa coccinea, sometimes called red Indian pipe, is a species of obligately parastic plant occurring in the Neotropical realm. It belongs to the family Ericaceae.[1]
Description
[edit]Monotropa coccinea is like the much better documented Monotropa uniflora, except that it is bright red and occurs in tropical America, not in the USA. Both taxa have such a unique appearance that usually these few field marks suffice for the species' identification:[2]
- They do not photosynthesize, so have no green parts.
- Their stem-like inflorescences arising from the ground bear only one flower.
Distribution
[edit]Monotropa coccinea occurs in Mexico, Central America, and Colombia in South America.[3]
Habitat
[edit]In highland central Mexico, treating the species as M. uniflora, M. coccinea occurs in association with various pine trees in cloud forests.[4] In El Salvador the species also inhabits cloud forests of various kinds.[5]
Fungal associations
[edit]Monotropa coccinea, like other Monotropa species, is parasitic on a fungus which is in a symbiotic relationship with a tree.[6] In highland central Mexico the principal fungi associated with the occurrence of Monotropa coccinea among its pine trees appear to be those which are mycorrhizal species of the fungus family Russulaceae, and within that family there's a strong preference for species of the genus Russula.[7]
Taxonomy
[edit]The big taxonomic question about Monotropa coccinea is this: Is it different from Monotropa uniflora? In 2026, the main taxonomic authorities list Monotropa coccinea as a distinct species.[1][3] They appear to be guided by a 2004 study in which molecular phylogenetic analysis found that "... Monotropa uniflora from Central America is molecularly diverged and phylogenetically distinct from North American representatives."[8] Still, in 2026, some authorities made clear that they treated Monotropa coccinea as distinct only "tentatively", until more studies are published.[9]
The taxon Monotropa coccinea was named and described formally in 1832 by Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini. The type specimen was noted as from the Mexican Empire, and it had been preserved in "spirits of wine", or distilled ethanol (... "spiritu vini servatam").[10]
Etymology
[edit]The genus name Monotropa is from the Greek monos meaning "one," and tropos, meaning "turn or direction", alluding to the flowers turning in one direction.[2]
The species name coccinea is New Latin based on the Greek kokkinos meaning "scarlet-colored".[11]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "Monotropa coccinea Zucc". Plants of the World Online. United Kingdom: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved May 16, 2026.
- 1 2 Wallace, Gary D. "Monotropa Linnaeus. In Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA)". St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA, USA: New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org. Retrieved May 17, 2026.
- 1 2 "Monotropa coccinea Zucc". catalogueoflife.org. Catalogue of Life. April 18, 2026. Retrieved May 17, 2026.
- ↑ Rojas-Zenteno, E. Carlos; Orozco-Villa, Martín; Romero-Rangel, Silvia; Montoya-Ayala, Raymundo (2016). "Vegetación Flora del Municipio de Tamascaltepec, Estado de Mexico, México". Polibotánica (in Spanish and English). 42. Mexico City, DF, México: Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN): 43–89. doi:10.18387/polibotanica.42.3. ISSN 2395-9525. Retrieved May 17, 2026.
- ↑ Galán, Pablo (November 2019). "Distribución de Plantas Saprófitas y Parásitas de raíces en El Salvador" (PDF). Bioma (in Spanish and English). 52 (Año 5). ISSN 2307-0560. Retrieved May 17, 2026.
- ↑ Friedman, Ned (August 19, 2019). "A Beautiful Parasite". The Arnold Arboretum. Boston, MA, USA: Harvard University. Retrieved May 17, 2026.
- ↑ Kong, Alejandro; Cifuentes, Joaquín; Estrada-Torres, Arturo; et al. (2015). "Russulaceae associated with mycoheterotroph Monotropa uniflora (Ericaceae) in Tlaxcala, Mexico: a phylogenetic approach" (PDF). Cryptogamie, Mycologie. 36 (4). France: Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle: 479–512. doi:10.7872/crym/v36.iss4.2015.479.
- ↑ Neyland, Ray; Hennigan, Melissa K. (December 2004). "A Cladistic Analysis of Monotropa uniflora (Ericaceae) Inferred from Large Ribosomal Subunit (26S) rRNA Gene Sequences". Castanea. 69 (4). Southern Appalachian Botanical Society: 265–271. Retrieved May 16, 2026.
- ↑ Weakley, A.S., and Southeastern Flora Team (2025). "Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus". Flora of the southeastern United States Web. Chapel Hill, NC, USA: University of North Carolina Herbarium, North Carolina Botanical Garden. Retrieved May 16, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Zuccarini, Joseph Gerhard (1832). "Botanishe Notizen über Mexico, insbesondere über den Standort von Cheirostemon platanides". Flora oder Botanische Zeitung:welche Recensionen, Abhandlungen, Aufsätze, Neuigkeiten und Nachrichten, die Botanik betreffend, enthält. Nro. I. Intelligenzblatt zür allgemeinen botanischen Zeitung. (in German and Latin). Vol. 2 Beibl. Regensburg: Königl. Botanische Gesellschaft in Regensburg. p. 100.
- ↑ Hyde, M.A.; Wursten, B.T.; Ballings, P.; Coates Palgrave, M. (2026). "Ixora coccinea L." Flora of Zimbabwe: Cultivated plants. Retrieved May 18, 2026.