Indian pipe

American  

noun

1. a leafless, pearly white, saprophytic plant, Monotropa uniflora, of North America and Asia, having a solitary white flower and resembling a tobacco pipe.

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Indian pipe British  

noun

1. a white or pinkish saprophytic woodland plant, Monotropa uniflora, of the N hemisphere, with a solitary nodding flower resembling a pipe: family Monotropaceae

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Etymology

Origin of Indian pipe

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95

Example Sentences

Indian pipe is a ghost of a plant: It lacks chlorophyll, so it can’t make its own food with sunlight the way most plants do.

From Slate • May 17, 2016

Stretched upon the turf about fifty yards outside the corral, puffing lazily at an Indian pipe, lay Vipan.

From Golden Face A Tale of the Wild West by Mitford, Bertram

Above them the smoke from Aaron's chimney, thin and blue, rose bending like an Indian pipe in the still air.

From Autumn by Nathan, Robert

Pierre pointed a skeletal finger above his head to a shelf mounted on the white-painted plaster wall, where an Indian pipe lay, its bowl carved of red pipestone, its stem polished hickory.

From Shaman by Shea, Robert

I can smoke my own pipe in turn, but when the Indian pipe comes around, I am nonplused.

From Canyons of the Colorado by Powell, John Wesley