Genre: Information/Explanation

Editor Picks is a list series for Britannica editors to provide opinions and commentary on topics of personal interest . With over 4,000 species of parasitic flowering plants in the world , there are a lot of incredible species out there . This list represents my picks as Britannica's plant editor for the five most-impressive parasitic plants . What do you think ? Frans Lanting / Corbis Rafflesia arnoldii , the world's largest individual flower , is kind of nasty . Found in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia , its giant red-brown blossom is nearly 1 meter ( 3 . 3 feet ) in diameter and weighs up to 11 kg ( 24 pounds ) . It smells like rotting flesh to attract carrion-feeding flies as pollinators and its sticky fruit is spread by rodents . If you 've ever seen a picture of this " corpse flower , " you may have noticed its lack of leaves . This delightful organism is actually an obligate parasite and can not photosynthesize on its own . In fact , 100 % of its unpleasantness is fueled with nutrients it steals from the roots of neighboring Tetrastigma vines ! Rafflesia makes parasitism pay off in a big smelly way . On the opposite end of the size spectrum is the minute Pilostyles thurberi , or Thurber's stemsucker . Native to the deserts of southwestern North America , P. thurberi is an obligate parasite on the stems of shrubs in the pea family ( Fabaceae ) . Measuring only about 6 mm ( 0 . 25 inch ) long , the tiny plant lives entirely within the stem tissues of its hosts and lacks roots , leaves , or chlorophyll . Its presence is only made known when it breaks through the bark of its host to flower . Each individual plant produces only male or female flowers and scientists are still unsure what exactly pollinates these teeny-tiny flowers or how populations coordinate their flowering . Mysterious and adorable ? It gets a spot on my favorites list for sure . E.R. Degginger Dodder ( Cuscuta sp . ) is a fairly well known group of parasitic plants that form iconic masses of yellow , leafless vines over their hosts . Dodder plants are aggressive and use root-like organs called haustoria to penetrate the stems of their hosts and siphon off their water and nutrients , often to the point of host-death . Given that dodder species have little to no chlorophyll with which to make their own nutrients , it is crucial for young seedlings to find a host before they run out of the energy supplied by their seeds ( usually about 5-10 days ) . Studies have shown that these seedlings can use airborne volatile organic compounds to locate their host plants , almost like a plant-y sense of smell ! Cuscuta seedlings can even detect which of their neighboring plants are more suitable hosts and will actively grow towards them . Once a young plant successfully reaches a host , its embryonic root rots away and it becomes wholly dependent on its parasitism . The fact that this plant can sense its hosts makes it a candidate for a creepy plant-horror film and earns it a place amongst its esteemed parasitic brethren . S. Kenaley Not to be confused with their Christmas-y namesake ( which , incidentally , is also a parasite ) , dwarf mistletoe ( Arceuthobium ) species are found throughout the world and primarily parasitize conifer trees . Like dodder , dwarf mistletoes employ haustoria to exploit their hosts' vascular tissues and do little to no photosynthesis of their own . While many parasitic plants spread to new hosts with the help of animals or the wind , dwarf mistletoe spreads from treetop to treetop using high-velocity projectile seeds ! Yes , this plant actually explodes bullet-shaped seeds onto new hosts . Dwarf mistletoe fruits each house a single seed covered in a sticky substance . As the fruit matures , pressure builds up inside and causes the thick skin to rupture , shooting the seed away from the plant at speeds of up to 90 km / hr ( 56 mph ) ! The sticky covering helps the seed attach to the surface on which it landed , ideally the branch of a nearby conifer . Ballistic parasitic embryos . Enough said . W.H. Hodge A tall and beautiful flowering tree , the Australian Christmas tree ( Nuytsia floribunda ) is an elegant parasitic plant . Native to dry regions in southwest Australia , N. floribunda towers over the other plants in the landscape and flowers when many other species are dormant . Equipped with green leaves , the plant is able to photosynthesize and provide its own nutrition , but acts as facultative parasite and steals water from its neighbors as necessary ( which enables both its size and dry-season flowering ) . In fact , the tree maintains an extensive network of parasitic root connections with numerous other plants to exploit their various water supplies . Incredibly , the plant establishes these connections by severing the hosts' xylem vessels with haustoria equipped with a guillotine-like structure ! This mini-guillotine is so strong that it has mistakenly chopped through numerous underground power and fiber optic cables . Any plant with a guillotine gets brownie points in my book .