07/13/2025
A precious ally for the forest and for pain and the nervous system in humans. This from herbalist Sean Donahue....
GHOST PIPE: A LITTLE KNOWN NERVINE Delicate and ethereal, Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) emerges from the forest floor.Around it, trees reach down through the musty layers of decaying leaves, into rich, dark soil,where their roots intertwine with mycelial networks whose fruiting mushroom bodies spreadspores, expanding the web. The fungi pull water and minerals from the soil, feeding them intothe trees' roots, and the trees pull them up into through their bodies which branch out and formleaves that use the sun's energy to make sugars that feed the tree and flow back through the rootsinto the mycelium, feeding the fungus.
Ghost Pipe taps its roots into the place where the mycelium meets the rhizome, drawing offnutrients from mushroom and tree alike, and sends up a slender stalk that blossoms into a bellshape flower that first faces upward toward a sky whose sunlight it does not need and then nodsdown toward the ground that gives it life.
Plants and fungi exchange nutrients across their shared mycorrhizal networks. And in the processthey also exchange information in the form of chemical and signals1In siphoning off nutrients from these mycorhizal networks, Ghost Pipe is also tapping into theinformation they carry.
The plant needs to have a mechanism for filtering that tremendous input. And therein lies thenature of its medicine. Resembling a spine and a brainstem, Ghost Pipe is a unique ally inhelping humans modulate sensory input.
From David Winston....
“When I started using it 35 years ago I noticed quickly that it is not your normal analgesic. Infact I often say that it seemed more like getting Nitrous Oxide at the dentist than an analgesic,you know that it hurts, but simply don't care. The term that is used for this is antinociceptive,which means something that reduces sensitivity to painful stimuli. So Monotropa is primarily anantinociceptive, it raises the pain threshold.”
And Sean notes: Unlike Nitrous Oxide, however, I find that Ghost Pipe often makes people feel more groundedand present in the moment when their overwhelming pain has been dominating their experienceof their bodies and the world.
We are so grateful to have it brewing in our apothecary for our clients who suffer so much pain physically and/or emotionally. It is also helpful for epileptic seizures....Bless Monotropa uniflora!
