Snow plant with red scales in the

Mt. Rose Wilderness near Reno, June 2010



Verna R. Johnston fittingly summarizes the snow-plant ecology in her Sierra Nevada Naturalist's Companion:



Cluster of snow plants near Brockway Summit

between Lake Tahoe and Truckee in May 2007



The cited text highlights the snow plant's existence as a saprophyte, living on dead organic matter and fungi. The symbiotic relationship is tripartite, since snow plants rely on fungi as well as neighboring trees from which they obtain their fixed carbon [5]: Sarcodes sanguinea is a nonphotosynthetic mycoheterotrophic plant of the Ericaceae-subfamily Monotropoideae. Snow plant distribution is restricted to the mountains of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir of Baja California and mountain ranges of California and southern Oregon.



The world-wide diversity of saprophytic plants includes various Californian species such as the featured snow plant as well as pinedrop, pinesap, sugar stick, gnome plant, Indian pipe and California pinefoot. Snow plants are also found in limited areas of northwest Nevada: the fir and pine stands of the Mt. Rose Wilderness between Reno/Sparks and Lake Tahoe are a good place to look.



Snow plant with tubular bells

in the Mt. Rose Wilderness

near Reno, June 2010 calflora.net) and the Latin adjective sanguineus, meaning blood-red (see calflora.net). The common name of Sarcodes sanguinea is found to be written in one or two words: “snowplant” or “snow plant,” respectively. The name “snowflower” is used synonymously (for example, see gnolls.org)



The snow plant is a beautiful and fascinating plant species, which I have chosen as the logo flower of my Twitter traveling & recreation microblog Traveling Ahead (@TravelingAhead). References [1] Laird R. Blackwell: Tahoe Wildflowers. Morris Book Publishing, LLC, Falcon Guide, Guilford, Connecticut, 2007, page 47. [2] Peter Alden and Fred Heath: Field Guide to California. Chanticleer Press, Inc., New York, 1998, page 32. [3] Richard Spellenberg: Northern American Wildflowers, Western Region. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 2001, page 618. [4] Verna R. Johnston: Sierra Nevada, The Naturalist's Companion. Revised Edition University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1998, page 87. [5] M. I. Bibartondo, A. M. Kretzer, E. M. Pine and T. D. Bruns: High root concentration and uneven ectomycorrhizal diversity near Sarcodes sanguinea (Ericaceae): A cheater that stimulates its victims? American Journal of Botany 2000, 87 ( 12 ), pp. 1783-1788 .

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