I am a friend of dodder in plants, do you know me?

I am Dodder, do you know me?

My name is Dodder, a member of the angiosperm Convolvulaceae, which is a relative of morning glory. I am also an alternative to green plants, which are heterotrophic and live by absorbing nutrients from other plants. Students all know that the mesophyll of green plant leaves contains chloroplasts, which can produce organic matter for their own nutrition, just like we humans eat. However, green plants "eat" carbon dioxide, and at the same time release oxygen for human breathing. As for me, Dodder, the stem of the plant is only one millimeter thick, which is 11 times that of human hair, and the maximum diameter of human hair is 90 microns. This is my waistline as an herb! Such a slender waistline is the champion of weight loss compared with most herbal stems, not to mention compared with a tree with a diameter of a few people and a few hugs, such a difference in size is really the same as an elephant and an ant of disparity. Can such a body support itself (self-support)? The answer is obviously no. Then what should I do, don't worry, God sealed a door for me, and then opened another window. A small sucker grows on my stem. In fact, my sucker is functionally like a growing straw. This straw can be inserted into the phloem of other plant stems. The phloem is the blood vessel of normal green plants, with large The energy produced by photosynthesis, I absorb nutrients from this blood vessel, grow and develop, blossom and bear fruit, and have children. Botanists call plants like us that do not have chloroplasts in their leaves, or that have no leaves and white stems, as parasitic plants, and plants that absorb nutrients from us are called hosts. My image was also described by the Ming Dynasty medical scientist Li Shizhen in a "photograph"! "When his son enters the ground, he is born with roots and long-lasting grasses. The roots are cut off by themselves. There are no leaves and flowers. Modern Chinese medicine chemistry revealed several active ingredients of sterols and triterpenoids in my seeds. My seeds are the most commonly used Chinese medicines, which have the effect of nourishing liver and kidney, nourishing essence, improving eyesight and soothing fetus! The four diversity of our plants includes the most important species diversity and genetic diversity. My growth habit is also a way that organisms have evolved in the long-term changes in the earth's environment. I and other brothers and sisters together form a plant environment in the earth's environment. Only the diversity of biological species is rich, and the richer the biodiversity, the ecological The environment is more stable! Remember that every plant and tree in nature needs to be protected, and we are that "one grass"!

(Responsible editor：the scenery)