Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow . One of the unexpected pleasures of walking through the woods is the occasional foray into deeper growth in order to see a man about a dog. A plant you might overlook unless stopped and focused upon the ground, is beech drops, Epifagus virginiana . Epi for upon and fagus for beech – this parasitic plant grows on the roots of beech trees. This is an easy plant to miss. It is multi-branched but with very slender stems,