Plants have been known as producers in the food chain, these are organisms that can create their own food only by obtaining energy from sunlight and nutrients from the soil. After which, these plants will be able to create their own food in the form of starch. Parasitic plants are rare but they do exist in nature, as exceptions to the foregoing knowledge about plants.
A report from ScienceDaily has indicated that two new species of orchids recently found in Okinawa. What is most interesting about this discovery is that these plants have been discovered to not undergo photosynthesis and are even tagged as parasitic plants. The two new species have been named Gastrodia nipponcoides and Gastrodia okinawensis.
Professor Suetsugu, from the Kobe University Graduate School of Science, has made the discovery. It is in his findings that these kinds of plans attach to fungi to obtain nutrients. One of the reasons why these new species of orchids only have been recently found is the fact that they are not always at the surface. Most often than not, these kinds of plants are only on the surface when it is flowering or bearing fruit, primarily because they don't need sunlight to survive.
Science Focus explains that there are thousands of species of parasitic plants and they can be found in different corners of the world. One of the most popular, but its true identity is behind the knowledge of most people, is the mistletoe.
These kinds of plants have a special root, known as a haustorium, which is used infiltrate the host plant's xylem and phloem for nutrients. They do this by piercing through the host plant's stems. Since these kinds of plants barely produce nectar, they use small mammals for pollination. They give off a unique small to attract such organisms to help aid in pollination.
