BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Monotropa uniflora
ghost pipe
| Scientific Name: | Monotropa uniflora Linnaeus | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | ghost pipe | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vascular Plant | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | MONOUNI | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Jan 2023) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Apr 2019) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2010) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | This species occurs in a wide variety of coniferous, deciduous, or mix forests that vary from moist to dry at elevations ranging from sea level to 3,000 m (FNA 2009). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Elevation (m) (min / max): | Provincial: | ||||||||||
| Known Pests: | |||||||||||
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| Dispersal: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Inventory | |||||||||||
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| Ownership of occurrences (Known locations): | |||||||||||
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| Economic Attributes | |||||||||||
| Global Economic Use: |
MEDICINE/DRUG
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| Global Economic Comments: | This species is limited to wild collection due to cultivation challenges. It is used as an analgesic and sedative and typically sold as a tincture and found on various online platforms (Davis, pers. comm., 2023). Historically, it was used to treat eye inflammation (Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 1977). Recent applications advertise is as an opioid substitute (Davis, pers. comm., 2023). | ||||||||||
| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Monotropa uniflora is a wide ranging species that occurs in North, Central, and South America and east Asia (Flora of China Editorial Committee 2005, FNA 2009, Barkalov and Sundukov 2015, Villaseņor 2016). | ||||||||||
| Disjunct, more common elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Peripheral, major distribution elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Enns, A., rev. Eberly (2023) | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Jan 10, 2023 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| Last Literature Search: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Davis, Renee. Personal Communication. Fungi Perfecti LLC. |
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Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). 2009. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 8. Magnoliophyta: Paeoniaceae to Ericaceae. Oxford University Press, New York. xxiv + 585 pp. |
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Foster, S. and J. Duke. 2000. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. Second edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York. |
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Lewis, Walter H., and Memory P.F. Elvin-Lewis. 1977. Medical Botany: Plants Affecting Man's Health. John Wiley and Sons, New York, New York. 515 p. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2023. Species Summary: Monotropa uniflora. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 28, 2026).