So i was walking around the Sandia Mountains, just outside of Albuquerque, NM in late July. Im guessng it is this "ghost flower" but it was not the usual white color. Instead it was bright red. Any suggestions on what this is? Thanks in advance!
The white one is one species, this is another. Some places here the colored ones are most of what you see.
I did some further reseach and its pointing towards hypopitys, however i cant find one as red as this one was, it was literally fire truck red... and one source said that they turn from a yellowish color to the pink/red in the late summer early fall. this was in the middle of july. I also read (if correctly) that it mostly grows below 800m...this was at like 8000 feet also this was the only one in that area.
This site has really red Monotropa hypopitys. Unfortunately there is no other info with the 2 pics such as date or elevation. The second pic does have the location...Pike and San Isabel National Forests, south-central Colorado. Both pics taken by Dave Powell. All pics well numbered. Maybe he could provide more info if you contact him. http://www.forestryimages.org/search/action.cfm?q=monotropa hypopithys http://www.forestryimages.org/search/action.cfm?Start=1&q=powell&results=1559