Type of plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant
Cuscuta, a stem holoparasite, on an Acacia tree in Pakistan
A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the haustorium, which penetrates the host plant, connecting them to the host vasculature – either the xylem, phloem, or both.[1] For example, plants like Striga or Rhinanthus connect only to the xylem, via xylem bridges (xylem-feeding). Alternately, plants like Cuscuta and some members of Orobanche connect to both the xylem and phloem of the host.[1][2][3] This provides them with the ability to extract resources from the host. These resources can include water, nitrogen, carbon and/or sugars.[4] Parasitic plants are classified depending on the location where the parasitic plant latches onto the host (root or stem), the amount of nutrients it requires, and their photosynthetic capability.[5] Some parasitic plants can locate their host plants by detecting volatile chemicals in the air or soil given off by host shoots or roots, respectively. About 4,500 species of parasitic plants in approximately 20 families of flowering plants are known.[5][6]
There is a wide range of effects that may occur to a host plant due to the presence of a parasitic plant. Often there is a pattern of stunted growth in hosts especially in hemi-parasitic cases, but may also result in higher mortality rates in host plant species following introduction of larger parasitic plant populations.[7]
^ abKokla, Anna; Melnyk, Charles W. (2018-10-01). "Developing a thief: Haustoria formation in parasitic plants". Developmental Biology. 442 (1): 53–59. doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.06.013. ISSN 0012-1606. PMID 29935146. S2CID 49394142.
^Kuijt, Job (1969). The biology of parasitic flowering plants. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01490-1. OCLC 85341.
^Heide-Jørgensen, Henning (2008). Parasitic flowering plants. BRILL. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004167506.i-438. ISBN 9789047433590.
^Smith, David (January 2000). "The Population Dynamics and Community Ecology of Root Hemiparasitic Plants". The American Naturalist. 155 (1): 13–23. doi:10.1086/303294. PMID 10657173. S2CID 4437738.
^ abHeide-Jørgensen, Henning S. (2008). Parasitic flowering plants. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004167506.
^Nickrent, D. L. and Musselman, L. J. 2004. Introduction to Parasitic Flowering Plants. The Plant Health Instructor. doi:10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0330-01 [1] Archived 2016-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
^Smith, David (January 2000). "The Population Dynamics and Community Ecology of Root Hemiparasitic Plants". The American Naturalist. 155 (1): 13–23. doi:10.1086/303294. ISSN 0003-0147. PMID 10657173. S2CID 4437738.
A parasiticplant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms...
and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the broomrapes. There are six major parasitic strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration...
genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasiticplants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now...
families Martyniaceae. Parasiticplant species are found in the order Lamiales, belonging to the family Orobanchaceae. These parasiticplants can either be hemi-parasites...
Exceptions are parasiticplants that have lost the genes for chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and obtain their energy from other plants or fungi. Historically...
nematodes and parasiticplants. Not included are ectoparasites like insects, mites, vertebrates, or other pests that affect plant health by eating plant tissues...
Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasiticplants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these...
corn, is a perennial, non-photosynthesizing (or "achlorophyllous") parasiticplant. It is from the family Orobanchaceae and more recently from the genus...
Striga, commonly known as witchweed, is a genus of parasiticplants that occur naturally in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. It is currently classified...
(/rəˈfliːz(i)ə, -ˈfliːʒ(i)ə, ræ-/), or stinking corpse lily, is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers...
arnoldii, the corpse flower, or giant padma, is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual...
ability to colonize plants and produce cytokinins, which influence plant growth. While parasitic gall-inducers are typically harmful to plants, researchers are...
sanguinea, commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. It is a parasiticplant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach...
centuries, the term has been broadened to include many other species of parasiticplants with similar habits, found in other parts of the world, that are classified...
epiphytic cacti Parasiticplant Epilith, an organism that grows in a rock Foliicolous, lichens or bryophytes that grow on leaves of vascular plants Epiphytic...
Mistel (German for "mistletoe", a parasiticplant) was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration developed in Germany during...
Mitrastemon is a genus of two widely disjunct species of parasiticplants. It is the only genus within the family Mitrastemonaceae. Mitrastemon species...
toothwort also known as clandestine in France, is a parasiticplant species in the flowering plant family Orobanchaceae. It is native to western Europe...
the very minimum. Parasiticplants attach themselves to host plants via a haustoria to the xylem and/or phloem. Many parasiticplants are generalists and...
called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist...
phytosemiotics. In Runyon et al. 2006, the researchers demonstrate how the parasiticplant, Cuscuta pentagona (field dodder), uses VOCs to interact with various...
promote the germination of parasitic organisms that grow in the host plant's roots, such as Striga lutea and other plants of the genus Striga. Second...
as te pua o te rēinga ("flower of the underworld"), is a fully parasitic flowering plant, the only one endemic to New Zealand. The host tree responds to...
used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasiticplants such as Cuscuta. There are many plants that have tendrils;...
include all animals and fungi, some bacteria and protists, and many parasiticplants. The term heterotroph arose in microbiology in 1946 as part of a classification...
large-seeded alfalfa dodder, yellow dodder and prairie dodder, is a parasiticplant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. It was formerly classified...
the depths of Bengkulu, southwest Sumatra. This parasiticplant has the largest flower of any plant, does not produce leaves and grows only on one species...
flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, and epiphytic climbers) which, like other members of Santalales, are partially parasitic on...
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