Candystick: The Forest Plant That Keeps Our Matsutake Hopes Alive

My husband and I absolutely love matsutake mushrooms.

Whenever we walk through a forest where matsutake might grow, we are not looking only for mushrooms. We also pay attention to the trees, the soil, and the smaller plants covering the forest floor.

Sometimes we see thick carpets of green moss.

Beargrass may be growing beneath the conifers, and patches of salal may appear nearby.

None of these things can guarantee that matsutake mushrooms are present. Forest habitats are complex, and mushrooms do not appear simply because one particular plant is growing there.

But there is one unusual forest plant that matsutake hunters often notice more carefully.

Fresh candysticks rising together from the summer forest floor in the Pacific Northwest.

It is called candystick, or Allotropa virgata.

And whenever we find it, our matsutake hopes become a little stronger.

A Summer Search We Had Not Expected

Matsutake hunting has always felt like an autumn activity to us.

I think of cool mornings, damp forest soil, and a thick layer of needles beneath the trees. Summer is not normally the season when we expect to go searching for them.

But this year, we heard that people in the surrounding area had already found matsutake mushrooms.

Some experienced mushroom hunters had even shared their summer finds on YouTube.

That immediately made us curious.

Could matsutake really be appearing this early?

We are not professional mushroom hunters. We search only for ourselves, and because we learned by exploring on our own, we have only a few personal matsutake spots.

Still, we could not ignore the possibility.

We headed into the mountains to see whether any matsutake might be waiting beneath the forest floor.

We checked mossy areas, looked beneath the conifers, and watched for small cracks or raised places in the soil.

But that day, we did not find a single matsutake.

What we found instead was this.

Several fresh candystick stalks were rising from the ground, their creamy white surfaces marked with deep pink and red.

They looked almost too unusual to be real.

And although our mushroom basket remained empty, seeing them gave us a reason not to feel completely disappointed.

Why Is It Called Candystick?

The accepted English common name is candystick. It is also called sugarstick, candy-striped allotropa, and sometimes barber’s pole.

Many people informally describe it as a “candy cane plant,” and it is easy to understand why.

Fresh stems are covered with vertical stripes of creamy white, pink, red, or dark maroon. Rising straight from the dark forest floor, they can look like striped candy sticks that someone carefully placed among the moss and pine needles.

Its scientific name is Allotropa virgata.

Candystick is a perennial native flowering plant in the heath family, Ericaceae—the same broad plant family that includes familiar forest plants such as salal, huckleberries, and wintergreens.

In Washington, it is found mainly west of the Cascade crest, growing in the deep humus of coniferous forests. The Burke Herbarium lists its flowering season in Washington from May through August. 

Mature plants may grow to approximately 16 inches tall. Instead of ordinary broad green leaves, the upright stem carries many tiny, scale-like leaves and a narrow cluster of small flowers near its upper portion. 

A Flowering Plant That Does Not Look Green

At first glance, candystick can look more like a strange mushroom than a flowering plant.

It does not have the green leaves we normally expect to see on a plant because it lacks chlorophyll.

Without chlorophyll, it cannot produce its own food through photosynthesis.

Candystick is what botanists call a mycoheterotrophic plant.

Beneath the soil, its roots connect with fungi. Those fungi are also associated with nearby photosynthesizing trees. Through this underground relationship, candystick receives the carbon it needs rather than producing its own food directly from sunlight.

That means the part we see above the soil is connected to a much larger biological relationship hidden below our feet.

The trees, fungal mycelium, and candystick are all part of that unseen forest system. 

Fresh Candystick Does Not Stay Pink and White Forever

The fresh plants in our third photograph show why the name candystick fits so perfectly.

But candystick does not always retain those bright candy-like colors.

As the flowering season progresses, the stalks begin to lose their creamy white appearance. They gradually turn redder, then dark reddish brown.

The seed-bearing stalks can dry and remain standing on the forest floor long after the fresh flowers are gone.

Candystick stalks turning reddish brown among moss and other plants on the conifer forest floor.

In this stage, they are not as easy to notice.

The fresh pink-and-white stripes have faded, and the thin stems begin blending into the surrounding pine needles, sticks, and fallen leaves.

But once you learn their shape, you may start noticing them even after the brightest colors disappear.

The upright structure remains distinctive, with many small dried flower and seed structures attached along the upper stem. Dried candystick stalks may persist for a considerable time after flowering. 

Why Matsutake Hunters Notice Candystick

Candystick is especially interesting to matsutake hunters because its underground fungal relationships include fungi in the genus Tricholoma.

Western matsutake in the Pacific Northwest is currently classified as Tricholoma murrillianum. Older studies and field guides often used the name Tricholoma magnivelare for western North American matsutake, but later taxonomic research separated the western species from the eastern North American species. 

Forest researchers have documented matsutake fruiting near candystick, and one Oregon study described candystick as an aboveground indicator of the presence of matsutake fungal colonies below the soil. 

That does not mean every candystick plant has a matsutake mushroom beside it.

Seeing candystick does not guarantee that mushrooms will appear.

The season may be wrong.

The soil may be too dry.

Temperatures may not yet be suitable.

The underground fungal colony may be present without producing any visible mushrooms that year.

And candystick alone can never be used to identify a mushroom.

But its presence can tell us that we are standing in a forest where an important underground fungal relationship may exist.

For people searching for matsutake, that makes the location worth remembering.

The Dried Stalks Were Still Giving Us a Clue

As we continued walking, we found more candystick stalks.

Some were fresh and colorful.

Others had already become dark and dry.

Older candystick stalks remaining beside moss, fallen wood,
and forest plants after their bright colors have faded.

These older stalks may no longer resemble striped candy.

They are dark, brittle-looking, and easy to mistake for ordinary dried vegetation.

But they still tell a story.

They show us where candystick had grown, even after the flowers and bright colors disappeared.

When we discovered groups of these plants, we stopped and marked the locations on our map.

Every candystick we find becomes another small pin on our map.

Maybe one day, one of those pins will lead us back to another beautiful matsutake.

We had not found matsutake that day.

Still, we began imagining what might happen after the autumn rains arrived and the soil became cooler and wetter.

Perhaps we had simply come too early.

Perhaps the mushrooms would never appear there.

But perhaps this was a place worth visiting again.

We Returned Home Without Mushrooms—but Not Without Hope

Our summer matsutake search did not end with the discovery we had hoped for.

There were no matsutake mushrooms to carry home.

No mushroom dinner.

No basket filled with that unforgettable spicy forest fragrance we love so much.

But the trip was not wasted.

The candysticks showed us several places we had never marked before. They encouraged us to look more closely at the forest and think about what might be happening beneath the ground.

We left with new locations saved on our map and a plan to return when autumn conditions arrived.

Sometimes mushroom hunting is not only about finding a mushroom that day.

It is also about learning the forest slowly.

It is noticing the trees, moss, soil, companion plants, and subtle seasonal changes.

It is remembering a promising place and returning when the time feels right.

Candystick did not lead us to a matsutake that summer afternoon.

But it gave us something almost as valuable.

A reason to return—and another place to remember.

Please Leave Candystick Undisturbed

Candystick depends on a delicate underground relationship involving fungi and living forest trees.

Pulling up the stalk may damage its fragile underground structures, and there is no reason to harvest it.

The best way to enjoy candystick is to photograph it, observe the surrounding habitat, and leave the plant and its underground connections undisturbed.

Also remember that candystick is only an ecological clue. It does not prove that a nearby mushroom is matsutake.

⚠️ Foraging Safety: Never eat any wild mushroom unless you are 100% certain of its identification. 

Do not identify a mushroom based only on nearby plants or habitat. 

Use multiple identification characteristics and consult a knowledgeable local expert when uncertain. 

Avoid harvesting near roads, heavy traffic, sprayed areas, polluted locations, or anywhere contamination may be present. 

If harvesting is not on private property, always check and follow local harvesting rules, permit requirements, and regulations.

Want to See This Candystick in Video?

Photos show the color and shape, but video makes it easier to see how candystick rises from the forest floor and how its appearance changes as the stalks mature.

🎥 Watch my Candystick Shorts here

You May Also Enjoy

If you enjoy unusual native plants and quiet discoveries from Pacific Northwest forests, you may also enjoy my previous post:

🌿 Read next: Vanilla Leaf – A Wild Forest Plant with a Sweet Vanilla Scent

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📺 Wild Harvest Life PNW

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I truly appreciate every visit, every comment, and every story you share.

Some forest clues lead us to something we can harvest.

Some lead us to a place worth remembering.

And some simply give us a reason to return when the season changes.

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