Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbam here. If you visit Yakushima, Japan, you'll have the chance to encounter the subtropical islands most popular attraction, an ancient forest of craggy cedar trees with massive trunks that reach more than sixteen feet that's five meters in diameter. But don't spend all your time looking up into the leafy canopy. There's likely to be a plant at your
feet that's just as interesting. Thanks to one observant scientist, we now know the area is also home to one of the world's smallest and most unique parasitic plants. Back in sweet Suga Kenji, then a project associate at the Kobe University Graduate School of Science, canvas to the island for plant specimens with photographer Yamashita hiro Aki. In the process,
Kenji came across a diminutive and unfamiliar plant. Ken She suspected the plant, just five centimeters that's two inches in height, with cabernet colored stems and buds, was a mico heterotrophic plant, so he collected it for further examination. These parasitic plants get their name from the unusual way they obtain nutrients.
They basically outsource photosynthesis to a fungus. Most plants rely on photosynthesis, a process by which they transform energy from the sun into chemical energy that serves as a nutrient source. The parasitic plant collected by Kenji doesn't need photosynthesis to survive. It evolved in such a way that it obtains all its water, minerals, and carbohydrates from fungi. In this case, the plant's root system takes what it needs from fungi on ancient tree roots, even if the roots are all
that remain in now deforested areas. It's a symbiotic relationship. Another example of this behavior is the parasitic plant Raphaelisia arnaldi, colloquially called a corpse flower because its smell has been compared to rotting flesh. It steals water and nutrients from the roots of nearby vines, eventually creating a massive blossom. The ability of plants like this newly identified one in Japan has been one of the most intriguing and secretive
processes in botany's history. The only time these newly discovered plants appear above ground is when they briefly flower or fruit, making it exceedingly difficult to find or study them. Today's episode was written by Laurie L. Dove and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and other intriguing and secretive topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com