Dodder- A Plant Which Can "Smell" Other Plants

[M Farooq]

I believe everyone one of us has encountered dodder, also known as Amar Bail (= forever vine), once in a lifetime of our garden. It can be easily identified as a vine having yellow coloured stems and no leaves. It is a parasite, since it cannot make its own food, it draws nutrition from its host plant and kills it with time.

Dodder-www.ofnc.ca

Dodder-Cuscuta.jpg (38.76 KiB) Viewed 3292 times

I cam across interesting fact about this vine: This vine can smell its host. As we know plants emit many different types of aromatic components in air...(recall Muree jungles in hot weather, there is a unique aroma in the air), dodder "senses" those chemicals to locate the presence of the host plant. Finally it attaches itself to the plant it loves and starves it to death. It is a fatal encounter. For a video and details see here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/ ... -it-smells

BTW, gardeners, have you ever noticed that certain vines twine always around clockwise and some anti-clockwise? Isn't it another miracle of God?

Regards,

Farooq

[Khalid Abro]

Interesting fact. In Sindhi it is called "Bey Parri" means without roots, i have heard that it is also used in herbal medicines. Don't know whether any institute has ever researched it.

[M Farooq]

Interesting fact. In Sindhi it is called "Bey Parri" means without roots, i have heard that it is also used in herbal medicines. Don't know whether any institute has ever researched it.

Nice name "bay parri"!
You are right. Apparently there is no officially accepted drug based on dodder but there is lots of work done by Chinese and Indian researchers on studying the composition of dooder extracts for various uses.