Natural History Wanderings

ScienceDaily reported

This plant gave up photosynthesis, shrank its genome, and learned to clone itself—and somehow survived for 100 million years.

Balanophora is a plant that abandoned photosynthesis long ago and now lives entirely as a parasite on tree roots, hidden in dark forest undergrowth. Scientists surveying rare populations across East Asian islands uncovered how its cellular machinery shrank but didn’t disappear, revealing unexpected similarities to parasites like malaria. Some island species even reproduce without sex, cloning themselves to colonize new habitats. This strange survival strategy comes with risks, leaving the plant highly vulnerable to habitat loss.

Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251219093322.htm