At The Root Of It

Photo by Dr. Kamarudin Mat-Salleh
I don't post enough on plants, so I thought I'd bring you a parasitic one. Say hello to Balanophora fungosa, a parasite that feeds on tree roots. But at least this plant tries to give back to the world by sprouting blossoms. Each flower stalk bears thousands of female flowers (which resemble grains of dust) but only a couple dozen male flowers.

B. fungosa is on several lists of unwanted plants. I can't find much about what they do to tree roots, but I imagine that they are the tree equivalent of toenail fungus. I'm glad toenail fungus doesn't send up flower stalks.