Importance
- Witchweed, broomrape and dodder cause huge economic losses in a variety of herbaceous crops. Mistletoes cause economic damage to forest and ornamental trees.
- Rafflesia arnoldii produces the world's largest flowers at about one meter in diameter. It is a tourist attraction in its native habitat.
- Indian paintbrush (Castilleja linariaefolia) is the state flower of Wyoming.
- The Oak Mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum) is the floral emblem of Oklahoma.
- A few other parasitic plants are occasionally cultivated for their attractive flowers, such as Nutysia and broomrape.
- Parasitic plants are important in research, especially on the loss of photosynthesis during evolution.
- A few dozen parasitic plants have occasionally been used as food by people.
- Western Australian Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribunda) sometimes damages underground cables. It mistakes the cables for host roots and tries to parasitize them using its sclerenchymatic guillotine.
Read more about this topic: Parasitic Plant
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