parasite en Mistletoe: Lover, Fighter, Forest Savior <!--paging_filter--><p>When hung over a threshold, a sprig of mistletoe is a matchmaker; in the wild, the plant is a parasite known as the "thief of trees." Now, thanks to a recent <a href="">study</a> in Australia, mistletoe has a new reputation: forest savior. Field <a href="">research</a> indicates it's actually a beneficial plant, critical to a healthy ecosystem.&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>Mistletoe: the Parasite</strong></em></p> <p><a href="" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Ideas Green Red White christmas mistletoe parasite Phoradendron Viscum album Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:16:36 +0000 admin 136789 at Botanic Superlatives: The Largest Flower <!--paging_filter--><p>Despite its efforts to keep a low profile—lurking, as it tends to do, deep in Southeast Asia's undisturbed rainforests—the <em><a href="">Rafflesia arnoldii</a></em> has international notoriety. Its detractors might call it a hulking, smelly parasite, and they would not be wrong. Also known as the "stinking corpse lily," the infamous plant blooms with the world's largest individual flowers that give off a noxious odor that happens to attract carrion beetles and flies (the plant's preferred jungle-dwelling pollinators).</p> <p><a href="" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Ideas crimson Red Anna Laurent botanic superlatives largest flower parasite Rafflesia arnoldii rainforest southeast asia The Stinking Corpse Lily Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:33:30 +0000 admin 122410 at