Ghost flowers are like regular flowers, but a tad spookier!

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A Perfectly Creepy Flower

When you think of flowers, typically you think of big blooms, brightly colored petals, with green stems and leaves.  However, ghost flowers are the complete opposite, they are stark white.  Sometimes these flowers can be confused for fungus, as they almost resemble a species of mushroom, but these are not a fungus, they actually are a plant.  They definitely add a bit of a creepy ambiance to the area they inhabit!

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It turns out these ghost flowers are native to most of the U.S. but you may not see them very often because, unlike flowers that thrive in the sunshine, these flowers actually thrive in very shady, secluded forest areas.

Ghost Flowers in Southern Indiana

I personally have never seen ghost flowers in real life, but they're definitely something I'm keeping an eye out for now! I didn't know these eerie-looking flowers were even native to our area, but they are! Recently I saw a really cool photo of these flowers in a Facebook group called Indiana Nature Lovers. In the group Jowashia Day shared a photo she snapped of ghost flowers spotted in Lincoln State Park.

Photo by Jowashia Day
Photo by Jowashia Day
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How cool is that?!  Thank you Jowashia for allowing me to share your stunning find!

Want to spot ghost flowers yourself?

According to the USDA's website, ghost flowers typically bloom from summer to early autumn, and you can usually find them in moist, shaded forest areas. Apparently, Emily Dickinson was even a big fan of these ghostly white flowers, even calling them the "preferred flower of life" and using an image of ghost flowers on the cover of her book of poems.

Haunted Places in Indiana That You Can Visit

This map highlights haunted places in Indiana that you can visit! Here's a few of the places you can check out.

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