IPPS November Seminar: Parasitic Plants and the Microbiome — November 18, 2026

With four speakers, we might even call the IPPS November seminar a small symposium. All four talks will explore aspects of parasitic plant–microbiome interactions. Each presentation will last 20–30 minutes, with the session starting at 1 PM and concluding at around 3 PM GMT. The four speakers and their presentation titles are: Olubukola Oluranti Babalola […]

Haustorium 90 Now Online

  Haustorium reaches its 90th issue! Many thanks to Chris Parker for his dedication to the newsletter, and to Lytton Musselman and all contributors. This issue takes a closer look at the sunflower broomrape (Orobanche cumana) outbreak near Yakima, USA. Following its discovery in 2025, authorities introduced strict quarantine measures and carried out intensive treatment […]

IPPS October Seminar with Xiao-Jian QU and Marco BÜRGER – October 7, 2026

We will continue our IPPS online seminar series with the following talks on October 7th at 1 PM GMT: Xiao-Jian QU from College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, China: “Deciphering Evolution of Parasitism and Rapid Post-fire Resprouting in Alpine Thesium ramosoides” and Marco BÜRGER from Plant Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, USA: […]

General Assembly, 25th Anniversary & new Honorary Fellows

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On Thursday 4 June 2026 the IPPS held an online General Assembly. The date was purposely chosen as it marked the 25th anniversary of the society. On 4 June 2001, at the occasion of the 7th International Parasitic Weed Symposium (meetings that are nowadays called the World Congress on Parasitic Plants, WCPP) , in Nantes, […]

Haustorium 89 Now Online

  Issue 89 of Haustorium is now available, featuring the latest developments and discoveries in parasitic plant research. Highlights include the first confirmed report of sunflower broomrape (Orobanche cumana) in North America, raising concerns for sunflower production, and a fascinating feature on the striking purple toothwort. This issue also includes updates on combating Striga, from […]

International Congress on Strigolactones (ICS2026)

  The 4th International Congress on Strigolactones (ICS2026) will be held in Paris from 5–8 October 2026. The conference focuses on strigolactones as specialised metabolites that function as phytohormones and rhizosphere signals. For further details, please follow the link: https://ics2026.sciencesconf.org/ […]

The 18th WCPP has been postponed

  The 18th WCPP has been postponed till further notice. Due to unforeseen difficulties with the local venue, the IPPS has had to make the very difficult decision to postpone the 18th World Congress on Parasitic Plants that was planned for 31 May till 6 June this year. We are currently convening over the planning for a […]

IPPS Plant Photo Library

  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 […]

The IPPS wishes you a happy and successful 2026!

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 […]