The IPPS website currently features 50 photos, primarily of parasitic plants, all freely available for download to IPPS members. Please remember to credit the source when using these images. To access these photos, sign in to your IPPS account, go to “Photos”, and click “Free – Purchase.” Then select “Checkout” to email the photos […]
Parasitic plants initiate parasitism in response to haustorium-inducing factors (HIFs). Orobanchaceae hemiparasites recognise lignin-derived quinones and phenolic HIFs. Since lignin is widely conserved among vascular plants, including parasitic species, it was a mystery for a long time why parasitic plants do not form haustoria on their own or on closely-related parasitic species. We identified a […]
Dear IPPS members, I hope you are all doing well. As the president of the International Parasitic Plant Society, and on behalf of the whole Executive Committee, I want to share my very best New Year wishes to all of you, through this means. I hope the year 2026 will be another year of exciting […]
In the misty rainforests of southern Chile, we have discovered a crucial shift in the forest’s food web as we go higher into the mountains. We studied two types of mistletoe, which are parasitic plants. In the lowlands, a generalist mistletoe thrives on many tree species, while a picky, specialist mistletoe only grows on beech […]
Forwarding message: On behalf of the organizing committee, we would like to cordially invite you and welcome you to the “4thInternational Congress on Strigolactones (ICS)”, which will be held in Paris, FRANCE, from 5 to 8 October 2026. All the information about travel, abstract submission, detailed scientific program, and registration is available on the website. Please see: https://ics2026.sciencesconf.org/ The scientific program […]
To all parasitic plant enthusiasts/IPPS members: please note that both the date and the venue for 18th World Congress on Parasitic Plants (WCPP) in Brazil, 2026, have changed. The new date is 31 May until 5 June 2026 and the new venue is the Maresias Beach Hotel in São Sebastião, São Paulo State. Please update your calendars! Information […]
We’re soon (31 Dec.) closing our parasitic weed survey 🌻 🌾 ☘️ . Please help us to bring this one more time to the attention of (field crop) farmers 🚜 and agronomists across Europe and request their participation!The survey (at tinyurl.com/parasiticweeds) is available in 8 languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Dutch), […]
We are pleased to announce the speakers for our December IPPS seminars. First talk: Prof. Natalia Pabón Mora from the University of Antioquia, Colombia, will talk about “From hidden bodies to normal flowers: The limits of developmental reprogramming in holoparasitic plants” Second talk: Dr. Huiting Zhang, from the Washington State University, USA, will talk about […]
In the dry landscapes of north-central Chile, a large rainfall unexpectedly changed the rules of survival for two local mistletoe species. Researchers found that the heavy winter rains caused one mistletoe to produce fewer flowers, while the other flourished, producing more flowers and fruit. This difference had a ripple effect on the local wildlife. The […]
From November 5 to 7, 2025, the inaugural National Symposium on Parasitic Plants was successfully held at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The symposium was co-chaired by Professor Jianqiang Wu and Professor Airong Li, both from the host institute. The event brought together leading researchers in the field of parasitic plant […]