Snow Plant

Sarcodes is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the heath family containing the single species Sarcodes sanguinea, commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. It is a parasitic plant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach to roots of trees. Mycorrhizal fungi are themselves symbiotic parasites that help plants fix nitrogen from the atmosphere in exchange for nutrients from plant roots.

The plant's aboveground tissue is its inflorescence, a raceme of bright scarlet red flowers wrapped in many straplike, pointed bracts with fringed edges, themselves bright red to orange in color.

Sarcodes sanguinea is native to western North America from Oregon through the mountains of California into Baja California. Its name derives from the striking red flower that emerges from the sometimes still snow-covered ground in early spring; this may be as late as mid-May in high elevations, such as those of the High Sierra Nevada.