Take Now, Pay Later

Mycoheterotrophy (the consumption of externally produced carbon (sugars) via fungal networks) may have led to the single largest and most successful plant family on earth: Orchids. Further, some 46 separate plant lineages share this behavior.

All 25,000 species of orchids do not photosynthesize for at least some stage of their development. They must consume carbon skeletons produced by some other plant that is connected to them by the mycorhizzal network. In time orchids begin to produce their own sugars and begin to pay back into the system.

Being able to "tap in" to an already existing network is an ancient hack that gets things moving along quickly.

Monotropa has lost all photosynthetic ability. It's an "obligate" mycoheterotroph 👇