Saprophytic Mode of Nutrition in Angiosperms

Saprophytes obtain their nutrients from dead and decaying organic matter, a mode of nutrition typical of bacteria and fungi but adopted by a small number of angiosperms as well. Neottia, the bird's nest orchid, is a leafless, chlorophyll-poor orchid whose roots associate with mycorrhizal fungi and absorb nutrients from decaying organic matter through that fungal partnership rather than by photosynthesising (Figure 12.9). Monotropa, the Indian pipe, grows on the humus-rich soil of thick forests and likewis …