Question

Give an example of parasitic plant with yellow, slender and tubular system

Answer 1

Hint: Parasitic plant, as the name suggests derives all its nutrition from other plants. They are found in every genome. The host plant is not benefited from the parasite plant.

Complete answer:
Parasitic plants are angiosperms. They lack chlorophyll. There is a variety in species of parasitic plants.
i) Obligatory parasites: they need host full time
ii) Facultative parasites: they can live and reproduce without the host.
iii) Holoparasites are a kind of obligatory parasite that has lost chlorophyll and cannot produce carbon.
Examples of parasitic plants are cuscuta and orobanche.
A parasitic plant with yellow, slender and tubular system is cuscuta. In India it is known as amar bail.
a.Wizard’s net and devil’s hair in other countries.
b.It belongs to the family convolvulaceae. It has over two hundred species.
c.Seeds of this plant are used in herbal medicine for treatment of liver and kidney.
d.The parasite plant forms haustoria with the host plant.
e.It wraps itself around the host plant.
f.It is a parasite to alfalfa, clove, potatoes etc.
g.It is found in temperate and tropical regions of the world.
h.They have thin stems and small leaves.
i.It has low levels of chlorophyll

Note: Haustoria is a rootlike structure which wraps itself around other plants, penetrates it and derives food/ nutrition from it. Sometimes the host does all the work and the parasite rises to flower. They have a highly modified root or stem.