Epifagus virginiana (beechdrops) is a distinctive holoparasitic wildflower found only in the beech forests of eastern and midwestern North America. Entirely lacking chlorophyll, it lives by attaching to the roots of American Beech and drawing all of its nutrients from the host. Because it depends completely on this root connection, beechdrops cannot survive away from beech trees and appears only where their root systems extend.

Beechdrops begins its life when a seed germinates in response to chemical signals from the roots of an American Beech. From the beech root system, the plant sends up brownish, unbranched stems 4–18 inches tall, bearing small white‑and‑purple tubular flowers about 8 mm long on the upper part of the stem. The flowers emerge directly from the stem, each with four lobes and a curved or slightly arching tube, while the leaves are reduced to tiny, triangular, scale‑like structures between the flowers.

Both leaves and flowers are attached directly to the stem, arranged alternately from the woolly, tuberous base to the tip. A distinctive feature of Epifagus virginiana is that the lower, cleistogamous flowers are self‑pollinating, while the upper, chasmogamous flowers open and can be cross‑pollinated.

Even when beechdrops forms large colonies beneath beech trees, it is often overlooked because of its small size, brownish stems blending with fallen leaves, and its ghostlike, chlorophyll‑free appearance.

Epifagus virginiana blooms from late summer into fall (July–October), but its flowers attract only a few small insects, including occasional long‑tongued bees and winter ants. Because most of its flowers are cleistogamous and self‑pollinating, it plays only a minor role in supporting pollinators, though it remains an integral part of beech‑forest ecology.

Native Americans used Epifagus virginiana to make a tea traditionally used for diarrhea, dysentery, and mouth sores.