It is a parasite of
salal bushes, which it parasitizes by penetrating them with
haustoria to tap nutrients. The groundcone is visible aboveground as a purplish, brown, or yellowish cone-shaped
inflorescence long. Pale-colored flowers emerge from between the overlapping
bracts. Coastal aboriginal groups ate the potato-like stembase of Ground Cones raw, though usually as a snack and not in any quantity. Formerly considered
Boschniakia hookeri, some taxonomists now place it in the genus
Kopsiopsis on the basis of phylogenetic evidence.
Morphological evidence indicates that this species may have exchanged genetics with
Kopsiopsis strobilacea in areas where their distribution overlaps. ==References==