Obolaria (Obolaria virginica) is a small plant that’s native to the eastern United States. The purplish green of some of its leaves helps the plant blend in with the leaf litter where it emerges. It spends much of the year underground emerging as the weather warms and the arrival of leaves overhead encourages it to return to its subterranean home.

A plant that is mycoheterotrophic, meaning it gets a large part of its nutrition from other plants’ fungal systems. This same thing takes place with some of our native orchids. Move one of those orchids to a new location and it is likely that it won’t survive since there won’t be the necessary fungal system to support it. The green of the Obolaria leaves indicates that the plant contains some chlorophyll in its leaves.

Have you seen it lately? Enjoy it while it’s there.

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