(including Plants without Chlorophyll)  These non-green plants
obtain their nutrition through a fungal associate. The fungus
connects a photosynthetic plant (green plant, often a conifer)
to the non-green Ericaceae. The non-green ericads are considered
mycotrophic rather than parasitic, because there is an
intermediate (the fungus) between the "host" and the plant that
benefits. Many characteristics of the non-green ericads are
reduced in size and in their development. For example: the
sepals and petals of many non-green ericads are difficult to
distinguish and the embryo in the non-green ericads is usually
reduced in size and less highly organized than in the
photosynthetic members of the family. Leaves are reduced to
bracts and in most species it is essentially only the
inflorescence that emerges above ground. Distribution Map of
Monotropoideae throughout the World Based on DNA sequence data,
members of the non-green Ericaceae fall into two groups. One
group contains just two species: Pterospora andromeda (