Dodder

Description:

Tangle of orangish-yellow stringy parasitic vine climbing over tree.

Habitat:

Host plant on tropical island.

Notes:

Dodder sets seeds which fall to the ground and germinate in the soil. The seedling starts life as a non parasitic, free living plant, but when it finds a host to climb, becomes a true parasite, giving up its leaves and chlorophyll. From then on it lives entirely off its host to which it has attached itself by suckers that penetrate the bark.