(Bear)corn on the Cob?

Spring really is here, and all over the forest floor, one of my favorite unconventional spring wildflowers is popping up. It’s easy to miss if you’re only looking for a flashy purple bloom backed by brilliant green foliage, but bearcorn, whose name we’ll investigate momentarily, lacks chlorophyll, the pigment that makes most plants green, and has no colorful inflorescence. But wait – isn’t chlorophyll part of photosynthesis? Yes, and actually, photosynthesis can’t take place without it. So then how does bearcorn get energy if it’s unable to photosynthesize?

By stealing it from another plant! Most often oak trees, particularly red oaks. Beech trees may also be selected as hosts. This means bearcorn is a parasite. Specifically, its underground tubercles connect to the roots of its host tree, and with the help of a mycorrhizal fungi already present in the soil and on the host, extract water and nutrients. It should be noted that most parasitized trees continue to grow just fine.

So they’re a flower – does that mean they’re pollinated by bees, butterflies, and bugs? Actually, no. Despite the presence of a flower, very few instances of insect pollination have been recorded. Self-pollination is the name of the bearcorn game. Then, the seeds that are later produced from pollinated flowers simply drop to the ground below, ensuring that they remain close to a host (though, mice have been found to consume the seeds, which would allow for bear corn to travel much farther from is parent).

Other animals make use of bearcorn, too. In fact, it gets its common name from the fact that it 1. resembles corn, and 2. is eaten readily by bears emerging from hibernation in the spring. Research has found that it’s quite high in fiber, which helps get the bears’ digestive systems and processes working again after so long spent immobile and without eating. Deer may also graze on bearcorn. It is technically edible for humans but is extremely bitter.

An individual bearcorn plant generally lives about 10 years. If you see the darkened late summer and fall version, rest assured the plant isn’t dead, only that year’s fruiting stalk.

That’s it for this unusual plant feature – stop by this spring and summer to see some for yourself!

– Naturalist Leah