New #preprint from the lab: When one plant parasitizes another, the impact goes beyond nutrient loss. We show that parasitism weakens the host plant’s immunity, leaving it highly susceptible to microbial infections. Find out why: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #PlantImmunity #ParasiticPlants
www.biorxiv.org
January 22, 2026 at 4:53 PM
New #preprint from the lab: When one plant parasitizes another, the impact goes beyond nutrient loss. We show that parasitism weakens the host plant’s immunity, leaving it highly susceptible to microbial infections. Find out why: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #PlantImmunity #ParasiticPlants
Nice to see our paper on Pilostyles, a fascinating endoparasite, making the rounds again!
#ParasiticPlants
#ParasiticPlants
Botanists track where a plant thief hides
🌱 Now in @botany.one 🌿
botany.fyi/tb947t
Full paper: doi.org/10.1093/aob/...
🌱 Now in @botany.one 🌿
botany.fyi/tb947t
Full paper: doi.org/10.1093/aob/...
January 18, 2026 at 5:22 AM
Nice to see our paper on Pilostyles, a fascinating endoparasite, making the rounds again!
#ParasiticPlants
#ParasiticPlants
Beechdrops. If you look closely, you'll see its seeds. They look like tiny white grains of rice. Some have been splashed up by the rain, one of its primary means of seed dispersal. #botany #plantsky #naturesky #parasiticplants
December 31, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Beechdrops. If you look closely, you'll see its seeds. They look like tiny white grains of rice. Some have been splashed up by the rain, one of its primary means of seed dispersal. #botany #plantsky #naturesky #parasiticplants
This Bizarre Parasitic 'Mushroom' Plant Quit Photosynthesis – And It's Thriving #Science #Biology #Botany #ParasiticPlants #Photosynthesis #PlantScience
This Bizarre Parasitic 'Mushroom' Plant Quit Photosynthesis – And It's Thriving
A fascinating curiosity of evolution.
purescience.news
December 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This Bizarre Parasitic 'Mushroom' Plant Quit Photosynthesis – And It's Thriving #Science #Biology #Botany #ParasiticPlants #Photosynthesis #PlantScience
Lathraea squamaria L.
Location: Passo del Turchino (Masone, GE, LIG, IT). Late March 2021.
An Eurasian holoparasitic species belonging to Orobanchaceae. The genus Lathraea is sister to Rhinanthus. In Liguria it is widespread but few common.
#Botany #ParasiticPlants #Liguria #PlantEcology
Location: Passo del Turchino (Masone, GE, LIG, IT). Late March 2021.
An Eurasian holoparasitic species belonging to Orobanchaceae. The genus Lathraea is sister to Rhinanthus. In Liguria it is widespread but few common.
#Botany #ParasiticPlants #Liguria #PlantEcology
December 13, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Lathraea squamaria L.
Location: Passo del Turchino (Masone, GE, LIG, IT). Late March 2021.
An Eurasian holoparasitic species belonging to Orobanchaceae. The genus Lathraea is sister to Rhinanthus. In Liguria it is widespread but few common.
#Botany #ParasiticPlants #Liguria #PlantEcology
Location: Passo del Turchino (Masone, GE, LIG, IT). Late March 2021.
An Eurasian holoparasitic species belonging to Orobanchaceae. The genus Lathraea is sister to Rhinanthus. In Liguria it is widespread but few common.
#Botany #ParasiticPlants #Liguria #PlantEcology
Asexual parasitic plants break biology’s rules #Science #Biology #EvolutionaryBiology #AsexualReproduction #ParasiticPlants #BiologyNews
Asexual parasitic plants break biology’s rules
Photosynthesis. Learning how plants use the sun and water to make their own food is a staple of biology class and makes life on Earth possible. Still, not all of the over 300,000 known plant species are...
purescience.news
December 11, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Asexual parasitic plants break biology’s rules #Science #Biology #EvolutionaryBiology #AsexualReproduction #ParasiticPlants #BiologyNews
"Rain brings surprising shifts for desert mistletoes and their animal visitors" by Francisco E. Fonturbel
Preview: In the dry landscapes of north-central Chile, a large rainfall unexpectedly changed the rules of survival for two local…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TJX
#
parasiticplants
Preview: In the dry landscapes of north-central Chile, a large rainfall unexpectedly changed the rules of survival for two local…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TJX
#
parasiticplants
November 18, 2025 at 3:27 PM
"Rain brings surprising shifts for desert mistletoes and their animal visitors" by Francisco E. Fonturbel
Preview: In the dry landscapes of north-central Chile, a large rainfall unexpectedly changed the rules of survival for two local…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TJX
#
parasiticplants
Preview: In the dry landscapes of north-central Chile, a large rainfall unexpectedly changed the rules of survival for two local…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TJX
#
parasiticplants
Wikipedia describes these parasiticplants as “ the flower thus looking like a big, fat, dead octopus on its head” Bizarre looking, to say the least.
Deep in the Sumatran jungle today we found the extraordinary flowers of Rhizanthes pushing their fangs through the forest floor. A sap-sucking, leafless parasite, this is one of the world's weirdest plants.
November 16, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Wikipedia describes these parasiticplants as “ the flower thus looking like a big, fat, dead octopus on its head” Bizarre looking, to say the least.
🚨 I'm excited to share that my new publication is now available at @plantcellphysiol.bsky.social 📃 Building on numerous publications and on my own recent research, I discuss several ways in which #GlobalChange 🌎🌍🌏 affects the physiology of #ParasiticPlants 🌱
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
Strange Plants And The Weirding Climate: Parasitic Plant Physiology Under Climate Change
Abstract. Parasitic flowering plants are often seen as keystone species due to the broad influence they exert on communities worldwide. Positive and negati
doi.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
🚨 I'm excited to share that my new publication is now available at @plantcellphysiol.bsky.social 📃 Building on numerous publications and on my own recent research, I discuss several ways in which #GlobalChange 🌎🌍🌏 affects the physiology of #ParasiticPlants 🌱
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
"The role of soil microbiota in the control of parasitic weeds" by Harro Bouwmeester
Preview: Happy to present the work of postdoc Pornkanok Pongpamorn and PhD student Michelle Zwart, carried out in the Promise II project lead by Jos…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TDt
#
parasiticplants
Preview: Happy to present the work of postdoc Pornkanok Pongpamorn and PhD student Michelle Zwart, carried out in the Promise II project lead by Jos…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TDt
#
parasiticplants
October 30, 2025 at 3:24 PM
"The role of soil microbiota in the control of parasitic weeds" by Harro Bouwmeester
Preview: Happy to present the work of postdoc Pornkanok Pongpamorn and PhD student Michelle Zwart, carried out in the Promise II project lead by Jos…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TDt
#
parasiticplants
Preview: Happy to present the work of postdoc Pornkanok Pongpamorn and PhD student Michelle Zwart, carried out in the Promise II project lead by Jos…
Source: https://www.parasiticplants.org/b/TDt
#
parasiticplants
Highly recommended! Did you know that the term “haustorium” originated in the study of #parasiticplants and was only later adopted by microbiologists?
Host Matt Kasson chats with Dr. Jim Westwood of Virginia Tech about parasitic plants, how they communicate with their hosts, and what his research reveals about these fascinating species.
🎧 Listen now: https://www.plantopiapodcast.org/65
🎧 Listen now: https://www.plantopiapodcast.org/65
October 30, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Highly recommended! Did you know that the term “haustorium” originated in the study of #parasiticplants and was only later adopted by microbiologists?
This was completely unexpected! Did not know these grew this far north. These are yet another parasitic plant, Hairy pinesap, Hypopitys lanuginosa, not to be confused with its summertime sibling, yellow pinesap, Hypopitys monotropa. #parasiticplants #pinesap #plantsky
October 27, 2025 at 4:59 AM
This was completely unexpected! Did not know these grew this far north. These are yet another parasitic plant, Hairy pinesap, Hypopitys lanuginosa, not to be confused with its summertime sibling, yellow pinesap, Hypopitys monotropa. #parasiticplants #pinesap #plantsky
Bluesky, apologies for the clipshow version at bot o'clock. You're getting the whole thing. #plantsky #monotropa #parasiticplants #nature ⬇️
October 25, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Bluesky, apologies for the clipshow version at bot o'clock. You're getting the whole thing. #plantsky #monotropa #parasiticplants #nature ⬇️
Read PCP Editors Satoko Yoshida and Takayuki Tohge's exciting collaborative work on parasitic plants (below).
And watch out for PCP's upcoming special issue on #ParasiticPlants (organised by Satoko Yoshida, Atsushi Okazawa, Thomas Spallek and Kaori Yoneyama) - out next year...!
And watch out for PCP's upcoming special issue on #ParasiticPlants (organised by Satoko Yoshida, Atsushi Okazawa, Thomas Spallek and Kaori Yoneyama) - out next year...!
Simon's mutant finally published! Well done, Satoko' lab with Harro, Tobimatsu, Tohge collaborations. Glucosylation of endogenous haustorium-inducing factors underpins kin avoidance in parasitic plants | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Glucosylation of endogenous haustorium-inducing factors underpins kin avoidance in parasitic plants
Parasitic plants rarely attack themselves, suggesting the existence of a kin-avoidance mechanism. In the root parasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum, prehaustorium formation is triggered by host-se...
www.science.org
October 24, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Read PCP Editors Satoko Yoshida and Takayuki Tohge's exciting collaborative work on parasitic plants (below).
And watch out for PCP's upcoming special issue on #ParasiticPlants (organised by Satoko Yoshida, Atsushi Okazawa, Thomas Spallek and Kaori Yoneyama) - out next year...!
And watch out for PCP's upcoming special issue on #ParasiticPlants (organised by Satoko Yoshida, Atsushi Okazawa, Thomas Spallek and Kaori Yoneyama) - out next year...!
Parasitic plants need a host to survive. With an organ called an haustorium they attach to their host. Now a new study gives insights in haustorium developmend.
Read more about this study on my blog
plantenzo.net/2025/09/30/p...
plantenzo.substack.com/p/parasite-o...
🧪 #PlantScience
Read more about this study on my blog
plantenzo.net/2025/09/30/p...
plantenzo.substack.com/p/parasite-o...
🧪 #PlantScience
Parasite organ formation
Parasitic plants need another plant to survive. With an organ called an haustorium they latch on their host plant to siphon away its nutrients. Now a new study shines some light on how the developm…
plantenzo.net
October 22, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I hope so. This guy's new this year. I haven't seen this here in previous years. I'm pretty sure this is the five angled dodder or Cuscuta pentagona, but I'll go out tomorrow for a proper ID. I only have a tiny area of it, and it keeps the stickseed in check. Doesn't seem to kill it.
October 8, 2025 at 1:44 PM
#PhytoFacts
Weird Wednesday is brought to you by Broomrapes!
With a staggering 150 species, these parasitic plants sport gorgeous flowers with tiny seeds. No leaves. No chlorophyll. They get all their food and nutrients from their host.
www.britannica.com/plant/broomr...
Weird Wednesday is brought to you by Broomrapes!
With a staggering 150 species, these parasitic plants sport gorgeous flowers with tiny seeds. No leaves. No chlorophyll. They get all their food and nutrients from their host.
www.britannica.com/plant/broomr...
October 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Scaldweed, Cuscuta gronovii, a native annual non-photosynthetic #parasitic #plant - haustoria instead of roots; shares #herbivores with its host plants (you are what you eat) - but a #flowering plant nonetheless. Most plant communities have several distantly related species of parasitic angiosperms
October 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
elephantella :) #parasiticplants
👻🌿 Creepy plant: Elephant’s Head!
This eerie wildflower looks like tiny pink elephant heads — but don’t be fooled by its cute face. It’s a native parasitic plant, latching onto the roots of nearby grasses & sedges to steal nutrients. 😱
#WSWS #spookyplants #weirdweeds #botany
This eerie wildflower looks like tiny pink elephant heads — but don’t be fooled by its cute face. It’s a native parasitic plant, latching onto the roots of nearby grasses & sedges to steal nutrients. 😱
#WSWS #spookyplants #weirdweeds #botany
October 8, 2025 at 1:28 PM
elephantella :) #parasiticplants
September 29, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Coping in the dark...
Hida et al. isolated phosphatase mutations that caused #phototrophic– #heterotrophic switching in dark-grown #cyanobacteria; a useful approach for dissecting evolutionary steps towards loss of photosynthetic capacity in #ParasiticPlants
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
#PlantScience
Hida et al. isolated phosphatase mutations that caused #phototrophic– #heterotrophic switching in dark-grown #cyanobacteria; a useful approach for dissecting evolutionary steps towards loss of photosynthetic capacity in #ParasiticPlants
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
#PlantScience
September 12, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Coping in the dark...
Hida et al. isolated phosphatase mutations that caused #phototrophic– #heterotrophic switching in dark-grown #cyanobacteria; a useful approach for dissecting evolutionary steps towards loss of photosynthetic capacity in #ParasiticPlants
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
#PlantScience
Hida et al. isolated phosphatase mutations that caused #phototrophic– #heterotrophic switching in dark-grown #cyanobacteria; a useful approach for dissecting evolutionary steps towards loss of photosynthetic capacity in #ParasiticPlants
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
#PlantScience
Parasitic plants help build lignin deposits in host tissues
Their unknown function in developing hausteria remains to be uncovered.
botany.one/2025/09/para...
#Botany #PlantScience
Their unknown function in developing hausteria remains to be uncovered.
botany.one/2025/09/para...
#Botany #PlantScience
September 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM
🔎 INSIGHT 🔎
🌱 Secure but flexible: temporary adhesion in mistletoe seedlings - Ornelas & Morales-Saldaña
📝 Insight: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
🔬 Research: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
🌱 Secure but flexible: temporary adhesion in mistletoe seedlings - Ornelas & Morales-Saldaña
📝 Insight: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
🔬 Research: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
August 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Curious about these plants? Follow the International Parasitic Plant Society on BlueSky for all the latest news on #parasiticplants!
Leafless and mysterious parasitic plant survives by stealing water from other plants #EarthDotCom #EarthSnap #Earth
Leafless and mysterious parasitic plant survives by stealing water from other plants
Botanists have formally described a new parasitic plant from the Canary Islands, Orobanche andryalae, after two decades of field work and very patient verification. It is a tiny member of the broomrape group that taps the roots of other plants for water and nutrients, then blooms with understated charm on harsh volcanic ground. It took
www.earth.com
August 27, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Curious about these plants? Follow the International Parasitic Plant Society on BlueSky for all the latest news on #parasiticplants!
A close-up of the development of a parasitic endophyte by @l-teixeiracosta.bsky.social and colleagues. #parasiticplants
🎉 Great news! The paper ‘Plant life without leaves, roots or stems: anatomy, development and three-dimensional structure of the endoparasite Pilostyles blanchetii (Apodanthaceae) in Mimosa hosts’ in @annbot.bsky.social by G. Ceccantini and co-authors is now #free for 2 weeks 🧵(1/8)
👉 doi.org/p2bd
👉 doi.org/p2bd
August 21, 2025 at 2:16 PM
A close-up of the development of a parasitic endophyte by @l-teixeiracosta.bsky.social and colleagues. #parasiticplants