Anyone know what kind of wild plant/flower/fungus? this is?

[Joe Schmoe]

Found on the side of Angeles Crest.  Never seen anything like it:

[in my dreams]

Wow!  Got me, but I'd say its not a fungus because it looks like its got some tubular flowers with stamens. Other than that, I haven't got a clue!

[Joe Schmoe]

Found it - from an Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers

Snow Plant (Sarcodes sanguinea)
Wintergreen Family

Description: An unusual plant that is stout, fleshy, entirely bright red, with bracts overlapping on lower stem, and curled among racemes of flowers above.  Flowers: corolla bell-shapped, 1/2 - 3/4" long, with 5 round lobes. Leaves: represented by scales. Height: 8-24"

Flowering: April-July

Habitat: Coniferous woods.

Range: Southern Oregon to southern California

Comments: Once seen, never forgotten; the brilliant red is startling in the filtered sunlight against a dark background of forest duff. Plants poke through the forest floor as snow recedes, drawing their nutrients from the rich humus.

I've spent a lot of time in the mountains...not sure how I've made it so long without recalling ever seeing something like that.  Guess I'm not getting off the beaten path enough.

Excerpt:

There is a group of non-green flowering plants that is related to the heaths (blueberries, cranberries, rhododendrons) and is often included in the heath family (Ericaceae).  This group of non-green plants is a subset of the heath family.  Let's call them the monotropoids.  Are they parasites?  Yes, but in an unusual way.  The monotropoids were thought to be "saprophytes."  A saprophyte lives on dead plant or animal material, but the monotropoids don't do that.  They are parasites on fungi, we can call them mycoparasites.  But they don't kill the fungi.  The fungi infect the short, stubby roots of the monotropoids, and transfer food and water into the roots. The fungi live in the dense litter of dead leaves in wet forests.

The most striking of the monotropoids is the snow plant, Sarcodes sanguinea.  Sarcodes was called the snow plant because it was thought to come up through the snow.  But it really doesn't--it comes up after the snow melts or has mostly melted.  It grows in conifer forests of California, and portions of western Nevada and northern Baja California.

Some plants of Sarcodes are brilliant red, others are more nearly rose-colored. Why the bright color? Nobody really knows. Such a bright color might attract pollinating insects in the rather shady forest floor areas where the snow plant grows. The flowers point downward. This plant has already formed some young fruits, lower on the stalk, although the youngest flowers, at the top of the stem, are still opening.
 
The underground portions of the snow plant are white. In this picture, you can se the tight cluster of short, knobby roots. The roots contain fungi which extend into the conifer forest leaf litter in which Sarcodes grows. The snow plant is fed water and nutrients from the fungi. These fungi also extend into the roots of pines and other conifers. Using radioactive carbon, one study showed that the sugars from the conifer roots enter the fungi and then are transferred into the roots of the snow plant.

The fruits are colorful and fleshy at this stage, and might think that some fruit-eating animal might be attracted to them. However, when they are mature, the fruits of the snow plant are dry and shed fruits through slits in the fruit wall.

Seeds of the snow plant, greatly enlarged. They have rough surfaces. Nobody knows how they are dispersed from one place to another. In order to grow, they must become buried in the leaf litter of a conifer forest. Probably they need to contact particular fungi in order to germinate. The geographical range of the snow plant is probably limited by the extent of the conifers and the fungi that the snow plant depends upon.

This thing was in the middle of a gravel-ly slope with nothing else around it...I knew it had to be something related to fungus.  Interesting plant.

[Nolena]

Try this link sometime. It gives you a lot of information on local stuff. It's a field guide to the San Gabriels.

http://tchester.org/sgm/sgm.html

Snow plants are often found along the Blue Ridge Trail in the spring.

[3PinkRoses]

There are several blooming about 3/4 way up to the top on the righthand side of road, and in woods, on that JPL paved road! This would be a great time to take a pic of them...

[Suhijita]

I saw some snow plants on the PCT / Baden Powell on Sunday... There aren't a ton of them - just a few here and there...

[NX]

Also, check down by Apple Tree Campground

[wrightwoodgirl]

SNOW FLOWERWE USED TO CALL THEM THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL