Links to Talks and Sites about Parasitic Plants

Videos, Talks, Seminars on Parasitic Plants

General

1. Parasitic Plants on Stamps, talk given by Dan Nickrent March 26, 2022 to Maharashtra Vruksha Samvardhini, Pune jointly with the Department of Botany, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune. The YouTube video can be seen HERE. Note: the talk begins at 4:15 and ends at 57:16 with discussion both before and after.
2. Parasitic Plants of New York State, talk given by Dan Nickrent January 18, 2022 to the Finger Lakes Native Plant Society. The YouTube video can be seen HERE.
3. Parasitic Plants: Biodiversity, genetics, and origins. Episode 1. What is a parasitic plant? First 9 minutes on mycoheterotrophs. Joel Duff presentation on YouTube HERE.
4. The Wild World of Parasitic Plants. Breakfast Club Ep. 37 featuring Sarah Jacobs from California Academy of Sciences. Parasitic plant part starts at 6 minutes. YouTube video HERE.

Striga and Orobanche

1. Striga biology from Access Agriculture. YouTube video HERE.
2. Mechanisms of Striga (Witchweed) Resistance in Sorghum by Steven Runo, Kenyatta University. YouTube video HERE.
3. Taming the Cereal Killer. Kenyan scientist Steven Runo talks about introducing Striga resistance into crop plants. YouTube video HERE.
4. Managing Striga weed and other parasitic weeds by Lytton Musselman, Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA. YouTube video HERE.
5. Yellow Witchweed on Cowpea. Discussion of the life cycle of Alectra vogelii from the Collaborative Crop Research Program (McNight Foundation) and Ilonga Agricultural Research Institute. YouTube video HERE.
6. How to Identify Red Witchweed. From Biosecurity Queensland, Australia, about Striga asiatica. YouTube video HERE.
7. Orobanche cumana on sunflower in Romania from Pannareuope. YouTube video HERE.
8. Examining Aphyllon californicum (formerly Orobanche californicum) in the San Gabriell Mts. of California. YouTube video HERE.
9. Examining Aphyllon uniflorum (formerly Orobanche uniflora) from Capial Naturalist. YouTube video HERE.
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Mistletoes

1. Kissing Cousins: Evolution of Host Choice in Eastern Mistletoe. Talk given by Dan Nickrent February 11, 2013 as part of Darwin Week Mini Symposium. YouTube video HERE.
2. Mistletoe - with Dr. Dave. Dave Watson explains some natural history of Australian mistletoes in a YouTube video HERE.

Other Santalales

1. The Story of Sandalwood in Kenya. The video shows how KENFRI in Kenya is attempting sustainable harvest of Osyris lanceolata (African Sandalwood) [not Santalum album]. YouTube video HERE.

Cuscuta (Dodder)

1. Parasitic Dodder Time Lapse video. Nicely shows the counter-clockwise circumnutation of the stems and a good anatomical section of the haustorium. YouTube video HERE.
2. Learn Your Land video about Cuscuta called The Nutrient-Sucking Parasitic Plant by Adam Harrison is informative and scientifically accurate. YouTube video HERE.
3. This Parasitic Plant Stole Over 100 Genes From Other Plants. SciShow News story about dodder (Cuscuta) getting genes from its host via HGT (horizontal gene transfer). YouTube video HERE.

Rafflesia

1. Biggest flower in the world: Rafflesia arnoldii. A Redfern Natural History Productions walk with British naturalist Stewart McPherson through a jungle on Sumatra, Indonesia where this Rafflesia is seen in full flower. YouTube video HERE.
2. Corpse Flower Stinks of Death. A BBC Earth, The Green Planet production with David Attenborough narrating the video about Rafflesia. YouTube video HERE
3. Parasitic plant, Living Together, The Private Life of Plants from the BBC. This earlier video by David Attenborough also focuses upon Rafflesia (here R. cantleyi). YouTube video HERE.

Websites on Parasitic Plants

General

1. Introduction to parasitic flowering plants by Dan Nickrent and Lytton Musselman (2004, updated 2011. APS Education Center Introductory Topics: Introductions to the Major Pathogen Groups).
2. International Parasitic Plant Society. The IPPS is dedicated to advancing scientific research on parasitic plants. This includes increasing our understanding of these amazing plants as well as helping to decrease the crop damage inflicted by weedy parasitic plants. This web site was designed and is maintained by James Westwood.
3. Plant Site from Old Dominion University. Lytton Musselman has made available thousands of photographs that he has assembled during a lifetime of travel and photography. There are many categories to choose from, including Bible Plants, Blackwater Ecological Reserve, Flora of Jordan, Great Dismal Swamp, Hydnora, Isoetes, and more.
4. Haustorium Parasitic Plants Newsletter Past issues of this newsletter are available at this web site. The website maintained by Old Dominion University.
5. Parasitic Plant Database. This database was established by Jan Schlauer and Willem Meijer with help from Rick Walker. It is a nomenclatural synopsis of selected parasitic plants, specifically the holoparasitic groups: Rafflesiaceae, Balanophoraceae, Hydnoraceae, Orobanchaceae, Cuscutaceae. It contains over 4000 entries and has search capabilities.
6. Parasitic Plants. Also features mycoheterotrophic plants. Botanical Society of America.

Striga and Orobanche

1. Wikipedia treatment of Striga
2. Wikipedia treatment of Orobanche
3. Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Orobanchaceae. Gerald Schneeweiss web page, University of Vienna.
4. Integrated Striga Control. Web page at Purdue Center for Global Food Security.

Mistletoes

1. Marvelous misunderstood mistletoe. Article by Rachel Ehrenberg for Knowable magazine.
2. What do mistletoes have to do with Christmas? APSNet feature article by Frank Tainter.
3. Mistletoes of North American conifers. USDA Forest Service publication (by Geils, Tovar and Moody).
4. Misunderstood Mistletoe: Scribbly Gum, from ABC Science, Australia.
5. Exploring the World of Mistletoes. A wonderful series of web pages containing information about these plants, told from the perspective of Dr. Bryan Barlow.
6. North Queensland Plants by Roger Fryer and Jill Newland. An excellent compilation of photos of mistletoes from this part of the world by true enthusiasts.
7. South Australian Butterflies Data Sheet. This page describes a number of Loranthaceae that serve as food plants for butterfly larvae.
8. Dwarf Mistletoe Management Guidebook. British Columbia Ministry of Forests.
9. The Mistletoe Pages.  Despite the broad topic implied in the title, this page is about Viscum album.
10. UC Davis Pest Management Guidelines for Mistletoe. Contains advice on dealing with both Phoradendron (broad-leaf mistletoe) and Arceuthobium (dwarf mistletoe).
11. Mistletoes of Singapore.  Ron Yeo has done a wonderful job on this blog (tHE tiDE cHAsER). Features some of the common mistletoes such as Dendrophthoe pentandra, Macrosolen cochinchinensis, M. retusus, Taxillus chinensis, Viscum ovalifolium, and V. articulatum. If you want to learn more about mistletoes from Singaore, see this book: Yong et al. 2015. A guide to the common epiphytes and mistletoes of Singapore. Singapore: CENGAGE Learning (Center for Urban Greenery and Ecology).
12. Wikipedia treatment of mistletoe.

Rafflesia

The "Queen of the Parasites" sparks alot of interest and for good reason! It is, of course, the largest flower in the world and for this reason has substantial attraction to tourists in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines where it is found. Here are a few sites dealing with this marvelous parasite:

1. Wikipedia treatment of Rafflesia. Note: The information here does not always present the most up-to-date research on these plants.
2. Julie Barcelona's site on Philippine ferns and Rafflesia.
3. Rafflesia life history.  From Todd Barkman's web page, Western Michigan University.
4. "The Stinking Corpse Lily: World's Largest Flower" on Rafflesia is found HERE. From Wayne's Word. A newsletter of natural history trivia by Wayne Armstrong.
5. Species profile: Rafflesia arnoldii. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online.
6. Cultivation of Rafflesia patma. National Geographic web page HERE. No specifics about the methodology are provided.