Parasitic Plants
An interesting illustration from Kuijt,
J. (1969) The Biology of
Parasitic Flowering Plants. University
of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles:
The Parasitic Plant Connection: http://www.parasiticplants.siu.edu/
From the 30 March 2007 issue of Science (Volume 315): Rafflesia tuan-mudae
A bloom of Rafflesia
tuan-mudae from western Borneo. Rafflesiaceaea
species produce the world’s largest flowers, with blooms up to 1 meter in
diameter. Molecular evidence shows that
these enigmatic parasites are members of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae
(which, by the way, includes Poinsetta sp.), hence the enormous flowers of Rafflesiaceae
most likely arose from tiny-flowered ancestors.
Indian pipes: Monotropa uniflora
http://www.wellesley.edu/Biology/Web/Species/pindianpipe.html
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/HTMLFILES/ghostflowers-1.html
From:
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Mycorrhizal fungi may also form conduits for nutrients between plant species. The colorless, and hence heterotrophic Indian pipe (pictured on the right) is an angiosperm
that must secure all its nourishment from mycorrhizal fungi that are attached
at the same time to the roots of some autotrophic plant such as a pine tree.
Radioactive carbon administered to the pine (as CO2) soon turns up
in the Indian pipes even though they may be growing some distance away on the
forest floor. |
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Mistletoe:
Mistletoe flowers have showy, white petals,
and the fruit is a bright red color.
Birds will readily ingest the fruit whole. As the fruit passes through the bird
intestine, however, the seed retains a sticky substance around it, so that when
the birds wants to defecate, it has to do a little “dance” to stick the seed
against a branch, and then walk away from it in order to break the sticky
goo. The bird, therefore, firmly
attaches the seed to the bark, allowing the seedling to take root and grow:
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Mistletoe seedling taking root:
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Mistletoe seedling with holdfasts:
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Christmas Mistletoe, Phoradendron macrophyllum, from http://www.delange.org/MistletoeChristmas/MistletoeChristmas.htm
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7437.html
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/ipc/weedinfo/viscum.htm
http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0716-078X2004000300010&script=sci_arttext
http://www.uq.edu.au/_School_Science_Lessons/1.5.3Loranthus.GIF
http://www.viscum.dk/eng-sider/about_viscum.htm
http://www.forestpathology.org/mistle.html
The Private Life of Plants
Marauding Mistletoe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpG0HarEgxU&feature=related
Is Mistletoe a Medicinal Plant or a Parasite?, Episode #421
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlUuR33h84&feature=related
Cuscuta, dodder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20rd7bkTc_w&feature=related
The Strangler Fig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCUtpmwacoE&feature=relmfu