Word: asiatica
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Dates: during 1957-1957
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...categories-from astronomy (the sweep of galaxies) to biology (the strange way of animals) to archaeology (the digging into man's past). Occasionally, as it does this week, the fascinating news in science comes under agriculture. Now quarantined in the Carolinas is a pesky parasite called Striga asiatica, or witchweed, that could cause more trouble than Asian flu and ruin crops from Virginia to Texas. See SCIENCE, Little Red Flower...
...plant that grows to be nine or ten inches high. It is a pretty plant, with gay red and orange flowers shaped something like violets. In South Africa, where it abounds, Boer farmers call it rooibloemetjie (little red flower) and vuurbossie (firebrand). In the U.S. it is witchweed (Striga asiatica), a parasitic plant that sucks the life sap of corn, sorghum, sugar cane and many other crops, leaving the plants as rustling ghosts while the little red flowers bloom over their roots...
...knows how the little red flower came to the Carolinas, but when the U.S. Department of Agriculture heard the news, it went into action, sending a task force of scientists to help the local authorities. A quick look at the literature told the scientists that Striga asiatica is one of the world's worst pests. Serious infestation can reduce corn yield to zero. Eradication is almost impossible...
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