The secretive world of endoparasitic plants
The secretive world of endoparasitic plants
Learn about several different species of parasitic plants.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about several different species of parasitic plants.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Pollen transports sperm cells to flowers' egg cells
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Flowers function as attractors of pollinators such as bees
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.An overview of the world's largest blooms: the monster flower (Rafflesia arnoldii) and the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum). To attract pollinators, both produce a rotting-meat scent, which has earned them the nickname “corpse flower.”
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Transcript
Did you know there are parasitic plants?
Endoparasitic plants are flowering plants that live entirely inside their hosts.
These plants cannot photosynthesize and rely exclusively on their host plants for food.
They use specialized organs to penetrate the host tissues and form a vascular union.
Endoparasitic plants lack roots and leaves so you often don’t know they’re there until they emerge from the host to flower.
Although its flowers are enormous, the corpse flower Rafflesia is an endoparasite and lives within certain woody vines in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Other endoparasites, known as stemsuckers, somehow coordinate the emergence of their tiny flower to help with pollinating.
Endoparasitism is very rare in the plant kingdom, and scientists are still studying how and why these plants evolved this way.
Endoparasitic plants are flowering plants that live entirely inside their hosts.
These plants cannot photosynthesize and rely exclusively on their host plants for food.
They use specialized organs to penetrate the host tissues and form a vascular union.
Endoparasitic plants lack roots and leaves so you often don’t know they’re there until they emerge from the host to flower.
Although its flowers are enormous, the corpse flower Rafflesia is an endoparasite and lives within certain woody vines in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Other endoparasites, known as stemsuckers, somehow coordinate the emergence of their tiny flower to help with pollinating.
Endoparasitism is very rare in the plant kingdom, and scientists are still studying how and why these plants evolved this way.