Houghton Falls and some app recommendations

Today it rained, but we did a short hike. I survived because it was shorter than yesterday. I still don't like walking in slick conditions going downhill over tree roots. We never did find Houghton Falls, but we saw some interesting things along the way. The Falls may come and go with the season and I am guessing that the falls are not the reason people make the effort with this trail.

Along the way, I saw a couple of women examining and photographing a strange looking plant. They said the plant was quite rare and was called Indian Pipe or Ghost Flower. The totally white plant did have a pipe-like appearance so I also took a couple of pictures with my iPhone. 

I tend to explore apps I think may have educational value and I have been using several apps or services that make an effort to identify what appears in an image. I tried them on the strange flower I had photographed and both made successful identifications.

The first service is part of Google Photos and is called Google Lens. It is available to all at no cost.

The second app is called PlantSnap. I tried this app in Hawaii with mixed success, but it worked fine with the Ghost Flower. This flower has such a unique appearance that the identification services probably have an easy time finding a match,

The Ghost Flower has such a strange appearance because it lacks the chlorophyll that gives most plants their green color. This plant is parasitic and is able to get nutrients from other plants.