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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Parasitic Weed Sniffs Out Prey, Study Says


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Scientists have now proved what gardeners suspected all along: Saplings of the weed Cuscuta (dodder) can sniff out their hosts. Here, a seedling of the parasitic species Cuscuta pentagona attaches to a tomato plant.

Photograph by Justin Runyon (courtesy of De Moraes and Mescher labs)/Science