While outside today cleaning up landmines left by 5 dogs......lol I discovered some rather ugly guests in my yard, they come back every year. Sometimes several times at different places around the yard especially near pine trees. They pop up all over this area as well as other states. (see the Wiki link for more info)
Both my husband and I have been curious about them and pull them up when we spot them growing. So today I sent an email and the photo below to the Horticulture Faculty for Central Oregon at Oregon State University Extension Service. And they wrote back with an answer, it's called a Pinedrop (Pterospora andromedea) and it is a parasitic fungus that grows from the root of pine trees. They said it was NOT harmful to the trees, which was good news.
Here is the Wiki link as well as some images and a search page from Google.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterospora
https://www.google.com/search?q=Pter...bLpDeUQiR4IiQE
https://www.google.com/search?q=Pter...bLpDeUQiR4IiQE