Hemiparasitic. Now that’s an interesting word in the plant world, one I hadn’t encountered before, and I do love finding new words. But as usual when I discover something new, it led me down a rabbit hole to encounters I had not expected.
It goes along with another term — holoparasitic, which means a plant that is totally parasitic on another, completely depending on the host plant for nutrients and water. It can’t photosynthesize, lacks chlorophyll and cannot live on its own. One such is North American field dodder (Cuscuta pentagona) — stringy, leafless, yellowish-white viny stuff that can cover garden plants and perennials from late summer to early fall, and may also transmit plant diseases.
Most common in rural farming areas, it is spread by seeds and climbs up the stem of a plant to insert itself into the vascular system of its host. An often hardy annual, the only good control is destroying the affected plant. Pruning it out is generally not effective because even a small bit left in a living stem will regrow.
An interesting research find: Though a generalist — meaning it doesn’t select a single kind of host — dodder selects its hosts with the highest nutritional status using complex chemical clues. And we think we humans are so smart. Our noses often rely on clues from the nearest pizza restaurant or taco stand, which may not have any high food value at all.
We seldom encounter many true parasitic plants in our area; most native species are endemic to t.