Indian Pipe Plant

I spotted this plant a week ago, and was excited to see it again after not being at the property for a couple years.

It is an Indian Pipe Plant

Try this link to read some more about the origin from a Cherokee perspective.

http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/spiritsong/IndianPipePlant.html

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), is a plant not a fungus. It belongs to Order Ericales (Heaths). It is also known commonly as Ghost Flower, Corpse Plant, Ghost Pipe, Dutchman's Pipe, Ice Plant, Fairy Smoke, Eyebright, Convulsion Weed, and Fit Root.

Indian Pipe is a unique herbaceous plant, easily spotted by it's waxy-white color. Sometimes it can be pinkish colored. Indian Pipe lacks chlorophyll and thus does not use photosynthesis. Without the need to capture sunlight with leaves, Indian Pipe is morphologically reduced, having no branches and vestigial leaves that are reduced to membranous fleshy scales. It is a perennial plant which can reach 10 inches in height. Blooms first appear in mid July and continue into late August. The number of flower parts may vary but there is only a single flower on each stem. The flowers droop down towards the ground at first later becoming erect as the fruit matures. The fruit contains extremely small seeds.

Weekend visit

That's me with Jack and Lucie, my godchildren, after hiking to the top of the hill to see the smoke signal pit. Lucie encountered a plant that left about 300 little bur-like seeds in her gangly mass of locks...but held still long enough for all of them to be removed.

Jack took advantage of Uncle Andy's shoulders for the last 200 feet of the trail to the top of the hill, and Lucie was on my shoulders for the hike down.

At the end of the day, Jack cried and didn't want to leave, but they were both fast asleep once Momma pulled the Jeep back out onto Wally Road and headed for Columbus. :)

Not too shabby a way to wake up in the morning...the mist and fog rise up from the Mohican River a few hundred feet beyond the inn. I estimate the elevation is about 200 feet above the river.

The top of the hill is about 600 feet above the river, so it is a nice hike and a good workout for your quads, and the views are worth the uphill walk...

Will need to clean the area up a bit but it is a genuine Native American smoke signal pit. In the Winter the view is magnificent down to both the Mohican River and the Lake Fork Tributary.

Trails

We are continuing work on the trails throughout the 45 acres.

If you know anyone who can help define the paths, please send them our way! We have about 2 miles to go until we are completely trailed up!

Another step on our journey.

NEW owners and

NEW management!

Thanks to everyone who has ventured up the hill to see the Inn! We are continually working to make the property your natural choice for enjoying Mohican!

This is still the good ol' rustic inn but we are adding several features to the property. If you have not been here since before June 2008, you would be really happy to see the progress we have made. We're making a HUGE swing in the right direction with the lodging, trails, fire pit, and our newly revealed feature: the Indian Smoke Signal Pit at the top of the hill.

Clean rooms, winding driveway, secluded spot above the valley...come see what we're up to to know some truly amazing individuals throughout the couty and on the Scenic Byway we now call home!

AJ's Bar and Grill will open in a few weeks and we look forward to your visit!