Beside the meandering river, a tall and slender reed stood, behind it was a layer of dwarf grass that grew along the river, and in a messy place, five kinds of grass grew in one palm-sized place. Although there are flowers in them, they are clearly malnourished and appear small. The headache is that there is a special plant in this herbaceous group, which seems to have a special ability, which can accurately find the object, throw the filament, and wrap it to the end. This plant is the southern dodder seed.
Cuscuta is a unique parasitic plant that does not have the ability to photosynthesize and is completely dependent on the host for survival. We can see it in the fields or beside the roadside ditches. It likes to wrap around herbs or small shrubs such as Asteraceae, Verbenaceae, and Poaceae, and is especially fond of legumes.
When the cuscuta seed finds a suitable host, it sheds its roots, penetrates the host, and absorbs nutrients through the epidermis. Its golden stems are like springs, and they can skillfully entangle the flowers and plants around them, and they will never relax. It is intelligent, like an animal with a sense of smell and sight, looking for a host through taste and light. When it encounters plants that reflect green light, it will move closer to the most positive, because the green is a sign of high sugar, lush greenery, and chlorophyll abundance.
Although the host will also rebel and initiate defenses to fight against it, trying to get rid of the entanglement of the dodder seed, they will eventually be defeated and succumb to this annual parasitic herb from the Solanaceae, Cyclophyllaceae, and Cuscuta genus. With its unique winding magic, the dodder seed has become an indispensable part of the ecosystem by skillfully exploiting parasitic relationships in nature.
This is the southern dodder seed, a small plant with a strong vitality. Its existence makes us re-examine the wonder and complexity of the natural world, and it also makes us more awe and cherish life.