I didn’t know what this was when I first found it but I thought that it had mycoheterotroph vibes and snapped a photo. iNat confirmed it as Corallorhiza striata. I should have waited a couple days for the flowers to open. Very neat, I will be on the look out for more next season.
Myco-heterotrophs were previously known as Saprophytes (decay plants), because it was thought the plants themselves were metabolizing dead matter/waste. It’s not been long since scientists found out these plants were actually parasitizing the fungi that were breaking down the decaying matter.
One famous example is the ghost pipe.