Oct 9, 2025 09:01 PM
(This post was last modified: Oct 10, 2025 06:03 PM by C C.)
https://www.science.org/content/article/...arning-how
EXCERPTS: One day when Kenji Suetsugu was 4 or 5 years old, he went for a walk with his parents through the Kasugayama Primeval Forest near their home in Nara, one of Japan’s ancient capitals. He recalls spotting a cluster of delicate, otherworldly flowers that looked like they were made of decorative milk glass, with translucent white stems and blossoms. They are called ghost flowers, he later learned. And unlike most plants, they don’t rely on photosynthesis to survive, instead drawing carbon and nutrients from fungi buried in the soil. “I was moved by the existence of such a mysterious living thing,” he says.
[...] In essence, mycoheterotrophic plants are thieves. Found in forests worldwide, they entwine their roots with the threadlike hyphae of soil fungi. These fungi acquire carbon from trees and shrubs while providing nutrients in a mutually beneficial exchange. The mycoheterotrophs then steal some of that carbon from the fungi, instead of relying on sunlight and chlorophyll to power photosynthesis.
More than 33,000 plant species—including certain clubmosses, ferns, liverworts, and all orchids—are known to be initially mycoheterotrophic during germination and early development. Botanists have also identified about 600 species, nearly half of which are orchids, that have fully abandoned photosynthesis and depend on fungi throughout their lives. (An unknown number of species are partially mycoheterotrophic, drawing carbon from both photosynthesis and fungi, and may represent a transitional stage toward full mycoheterotrophy.)
Evolutionary biologists have found evidence that full mycoheterotrophy has evolved independently more than 40 times. The strategy could be an adaption to surviving in dense forests where light is scarce. But how mycoheterotrophy arises and persists is still a mystery—in part because the plants can be elusive. In Japan, Suetsugu says, “There has been very little research done on mycoheterotrophic plants.” Ollerton says the same is true elsewhere in the world... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: One day when Kenji Suetsugu was 4 or 5 years old, he went for a walk with his parents through the Kasugayama Primeval Forest near their home in Nara, one of Japan’s ancient capitals. He recalls spotting a cluster of delicate, otherworldly flowers that looked like they were made of decorative milk glass, with translucent white stems and blossoms. They are called ghost flowers, he later learned. And unlike most plants, they don’t rely on photosynthesis to survive, instead drawing carbon and nutrients from fungi buried in the soil. “I was moved by the existence of such a mysterious living thing,” he says.
[...] In essence, mycoheterotrophic plants are thieves. Found in forests worldwide, they entwine their roots with the threadlike hyphae of soil fungi. These fungi acquire carbon from trees and shrubs while providing nutrients in a mutually beneficial exchange. The mycoheterotrophs then steal some of that carbon from the fungi, instead of relying on sunlight and chlorophyll to power photosynthesis.
More than 33,000 plant species—including certain clubmosses, ferns, liverworts, and all orchids—are known to be initially mycoheterotrophic during germination and early development. Botanists have also identified about 600 species, nearly half of which are orchids, that have fully abandoned photosynthesis and depend on fungi throughout their lives. (An unknown number of species are partially mycoheterotrophic, drawing carbon from both photosynthesis and fungi, and may represent a transitional stage toward full mycoheterotrophy.)
Evolutionary biologists have found evidence that full mycoheterotrophy has evolved independently more than 40 times. The strategy could be an adaption to surviving in dense forests where light is scarce. But how mycoheterotrophy arises and persists is still a mystery—in part because the plants can be elusive. In Japan, Suetsugu says, “There has been very little research done on mycoheterotrophic plants.” Ollerton says the same is true elsewhere in the world... (MORE - missing details)