The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

by Zoë Schlanger

But the best plant videos on the internet are of the dodder vine, a parasitic plant that takes being a vine to extremes: it grows no leaves, so it must find a host from which to suck out sugars immediately after emerging from the dirt. When it finds a host, it will detach from the ground entirely, relying on its new benefactor for everything it needs. It has no use for chlorophyll, since it does not photosynthesize, so is instead an intriguing shade of orange, and without leaves it gives the impression of a sleek little worm. Watching it grow in time-lapse is a marvel. When the seedling of a parasitic dodder vine emerges, its tip circles the air slowly. It’s impossible not to understand that it is looking for something. In fact the gesture looks unmistakably like sniffing. Indeed, the dodder is sampling the air for the emanations of a suitable plant to parasitize. Then, before making physical contact, it begins to move more purposefully in one direction.