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- Dodder is a parasite—it lives off of other plants. Instead of waiting around for a suitable host, the vine hunts one down. Conseulo De Moraes of Penn State University planted a young dodder near a tomato plant and continuously filmed the pair for several days. Her time-lapse video reveals a growing dodder flailing around, tasting the air like a snake, until it finally brushes the tomato's stem and begins to encircle its victim. Eventually it would sink tiny nozzles into the tomato plant to suck out vital juices.
I like this plant already!
Just a few hours ago I pulled a vine off of our Norway spruce. The vine is on the neighbors side of the fence, but it keeps creeping over. When we moved in, the vine was all the way to the top of the 60-70ft tree. I'm sure it would have shortened the spruce's life if I hadn't cut it.
I hadn't looked for a few weeks; it had already crossed about 8 feet of distance, and was about 4' up the trunk. I immediately thought that the damned thing must be able to sniff the tree out. Now I am pretty sure of it.
What's the story morning glory? Witches Hair is about as good a name as a parasitic organism can aspire to, don't you think?
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