page_title: Striga
section_title: Common crop parasites
hierarchical_section_title: Striga / Species / Common crop parasites
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of a Striga plant (witchweed). This is Striga asiatica (L.) Kuntze according to the 2002 source.
context_page_description: Striga, commonly known as witchweed, is a genus of parasitic plants that occur naturally in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. It is in the family Orobanchaceae. Some species are serious pathogens of cereal crops, with the greatest effects being in savanna agriculture in Africa. It also causes considerable crop losses in other regions, including other tropical and subtropical crops in its native range and in the Americas.
context_section_description: Striga asiatica has a very wide geographic distribution, from Africa through southern and eastern Asia to Australia.  Since the 1950s, it is also known from the United States.  This introduction, likely a result of human activity, resulted in an infestation of corn (maize) across many counties in North and South Carolina.  The United States Department of Agriculture and state agencies imposed a quarantine on this area to control its spread - a process that was apparently successful.
  Striga gesnerioides, cowpea witchweed, as its name implies, is a parasite of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), which is not a grass, but a member of the legume family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae).  This species was also accidentally introduced into Florida in the United States, where it was found parasitizing Indigofera hirsuta (hairy indigo, another legume).
  Striga hermonthica (purple witchweed) is also a parasite that affects grasses, particularly sorghum and pearl millet in sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal to Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, Angola, Namibia).
caption: Photo of a Striga asiatica plant (witchweed)
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