It's easy not being green

 

How about an orchid to start your day?

Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata), photographed from the North Sonoma Mountain Trail on 7 March 2015.

I only had time for a couple of quick shots, but here are two more for the record.

 

No doubt you've noticed the red and white stripes, but also note the lack of green, as this plant does not photosynthesize.  Striped Coralroot is a myco-heterotroph — it obtains its nutrients by parasitizing fungi.

 

 

This orchid flowers between February and July, so you have plenty of time to catch up with it this year.  Watch for it emerging from the leaf litter of shaded woodlands.