Traditional forest medicinal plant ghost pipe used differently today

Despite a long history of traditional medicinal use in the United States, the collection, consumption and efficacy of the peculiar forest plant aptly named ghost pipe, scientific name Monotropa uniflora, remains a mystery. Now, with social media and the internet driving a resurgence in the harvest and economic trade of the parasitic species -- which appears strangely white because it is devoid of chlorophyl -- a research team has taken the first step toward documenting its new status.