Parasitic plants
Parasitic plants:
These are plants that cannot make all their own food, so they attach to another plant and take water, nutrients, or sometimes even sugars from it. The plant they take from is called the host.
How they work:
They use a special structure called a haustorium to connect to the host’s tissues and absorb what they need.
Types:
Partial parasites (hemiparasites) like mistletoe can do photosynthesis, so they can make some of their own food. That means they are still producers, but only partly, because they also steal water/minerals.
Complete parasites (holoparasites) like Rafflesia or Cuscuta (dodder) cannot do photosynthesis at all. They do not make their own food, so they are not producers. They are consumers.
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