monotropoideae

These non-green plants obtain their nutrition through a fungal associate. The fungus connects a photosynthetic plant (green plant, often a conifer) to the non-green Ericaceae. The non-green ericads are considered mycotrophic rather than parasitic, because there is an intermediate (the fungus) between the "host" and the plant that benefits. Many characteristics of the non-green ericads are reduced in size and in their development. For example: the sepals and petals of many non-green ericads are difficult to distinguish and the embryo in the non-green ericads is usually reduced in size and less highly organized than in the photosynthetic members of the family. Leaves are reduced to bracts and in most species it is essentially only the inflorescence that emerges above ground.