Green leaves and photosynthesis were once considered essential characteristics of plants. However, some plants have stopped performing photosynthesis and take the nutrients they need from other organisms instead. One such mycoheterotrophic plant is ghostly-looking Monotropastrum humile that is widely found across East and Southeast Asia. It often grows in woodlands where there is little sunlight, obtaining the nutrients it needs by feeding off the hyphae of fungi. Despite its wide distribution, it was previously believed that only one species of this plant existed in the world. However, Professor SUETSUGU Kenji and colleagues have discovered that a variant found in Japan is actually a new species, shaking up our understanding of this unusual-looking genus of plants.
About the Author
