Forest Floor

Spring to Early Summer

Ghost pipe is a pale woodland wildflower that contains no chlorophyll and gathers nourishment through underground fungi connected to surrounding trees. Its waxy white or pinkish stems emerge after rain, each carrying a single nodding flower.

Ghost pipe has been used in Indigenous and later North American herbal traditions as a nervine for intense pain, anxiety, spasms, and seizures. These historical uses are not established medical treatments, and its unusual chemistry and delicate fungal relationships call for care and restraint.