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Pterospora andromedea
Also called Giant Bird's Nest, Pine Drops, Pinedrops, Giant Pinedrops
Pterospora, commonly known as pinedrops, woodland pinedrops, Albany beechdrops, or giant bird's nest, is a North American genus in the subfamily Monotropoideae of the heath family, and includes only the species Pterospora andromedea. It grows as a mycoheterotroph (relying on fungi rather than photosynthesis for nutrients) in coniferous or mixed forests. It is widespread across much of Canada as well as the western and northeastern United States to Mexico. Along with Monotropa it is one of the more frequently encountered genera of the Monotropoideae.
Pterospora andromedea is native to North America from Alaska to central Mexico. It has two populations, the larger in western North America and the other in the east, separated by the Great Plains. In Canada it is found in the western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan and in the eastern provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Québec. In the western United States it is found widely in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington state, and Wyoming. It has also been reported in Sioux County, Nebraska and without county level distributions in Texas. America's eastern population is found in Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Wisconsin, and possibly in Pennsylvania. It grows or has grown in many Mexican states including Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Mexico City, Mexico State, Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sonora, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz. It is also very rarely found in the highest elevations of Sierra de San Pedro Mártir in Baja California.
The seed stalks are occasionally collected to be used as long lasting ornaments in dry floral arrangements. Though the flowers are considered desirable by plant collectors, the very specific requirements of its fungal host make this plant practically impossible to transplant.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pterospora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
