The blood-spikes

“The generative force of the earth [...] produces plant forms that deviate from the typical, resembling those of animals. Thus, from the mud emerges Helosis guyanensis; a phallic-like parasite, a fleshy, brownish-purple, leafless cone — a singular mushroom with flowers.”

“The soil, almost entirely covered with putrefying matter [...] greatly favors the development of saprophytes; we noticed some gigantic cap mushrooms, which next to the strange red Helosis, similar to the phallus, seemed to characterize the appearance of these virgin forests.”

Their flowers are completely covered with hexagonal bracts, which resemble the segments of a soccer ball or the scales of a reptile. These bracts fall off naturally, leaving the flowers exposed to pollinators.

Here we see a female inflorescence without bracts. The numerous white filaments are the female flowers, which are among the smallest in the plant kingdom. Notice the large drops of nectar and also the scars on the bracts.

In addition to the showy inflorescences, they have a complex underground system formed by stolons and tubers. The tubers store the nutrients extracted from the host plant and give rise to the stolons. The stolons spread through the soil and give rise to new inflorescences.

The “blood-spikes” challenge almost everything we know about “conventional” plants. Click here to learn more about the Balanophoraceae, a botanical family that includes Helosis and 17 other amazing genera of parasitic plants.