A friend recently asked us for some photo works about bio-life. Actually I haven't done any photo project about this topic for a long time, it would be over 5 years. All the works has been kept as film and not printed yet. (I am afraid that there would be loss during moving home)

However, I still keep on doing research on local flora and in the coming time I am going to focus on the parasitic plants. Recently I found one species  in the country side of Hong Kong. I think it is interesting and worth for sharing with all of you.

Among the Chinese medicine (herbs), there is a species called dodder. In Chinese, it means a  mass of  threaded or branched herbaceous things. The one used in Chinese medicine is yellow in color. They are effective for curing  the lumbar lesions from hurting and now commonly used in the formula for promoting hair growth and even invigorator for men.

The one found by me is different from the above. It is green in color and is an 'invader',  which means that it previously was not the local species. The name of this species is called Japanese dodder (Cuscuta japonica).

The Chinese name of dodder is very interesting. It means 'rabbit and threads'. If you want to know why, you just feel free to send me an email.

Let's see the picture of the Japanese Dodder:

The dodder grows from the soil and elongate to the host plants. Then it will come out a very special organ called haustoria which can penetrate into the vessel tissues of the host and feed on the nutrients of the host. However, Japanese Dodder is green which means it possesses  chlorophyll for photosynthesis. Japanese Dodder is a successful parasitic plant as it won't cause the host to die.

TEXT: Raymond Wu