Give an Example of a Parasitic Plant with Yellow, Slender and Tubular stem.

Answer:

An example of such a parasitic plant is Cuscuta. 

• Cuscuta is known by its common names Amarbel or dodder

• The scientific name of amarbel is  Cuscuta chinensis. It belongs to the family Convolvulaceae
• The seeds of the dodder plant find their importance as a herbal tonic solution for kidney and liver ailments
• The identifying features of marble are its slender leafless stems, the leaves are reduced to minute scale-like structures
• Cuscuta usually has a minimal amount of chlorophyll but in some of its species, for instance, Cuscuta reflexa shows a slight photosynthetic process whereas the species C. Europaea, is completely dependent on the host system to fulfill its nutritional requirements
• In dodder plants, the flowers have a wide variety of colours ranging from white to cream, pink to yellow
• Cuscuta shows characteristics of Parasitism. Cuscuta wraps itself around its prey. The dodder plant induces haustoria around the host in the condition when the prey contains food products, crucial to the plant
• The mechanism of haustoria involves the insertion of its roots into the vasculature of the host. Cuscuta’s original root system weens off in the soil and eventually dies. Similarly in this way, dodder can create numerous attachments with its host
• Dodder is a holoparasitic plant, i.e. it is a non-photosynthetic variety and entirely dependent on the host system
• The Amarbel plant shows parasitism on a wide range of hosts ranging from numerous horticultural and agricultural crop varieties for example,

• Flax
• Trumpet vines
• Alfalfa
• Ivy
• Petunia
• Dahlia
• Clover
• Lespedeza
• Chrysanthemum
• Helenium