Creation Moments

Jonathan Cotton: How can a plant cause a famine? Find out next on today's Creation Moments. And now, here's our Creation Moments host, Ian Taylor.

Ian T. Taylor: The strange and nasty plant called witchweed is found mainly in Africa and Asia, but some has been reported in North America as well. This parasitic plant can prevent crop plants from producing yields and is said to be responsible for intensifying the results of famine in Ethiopia. Not long after germination, witchweed sends an enzyme feeler through the soil around it to find nearby roots. If the enzyme finds a root system, it will digest a few of the cells on the root surface. The damaged roots actually help the witchweed by sending out a chemical response that confirms their presence to the witchweed.

The witchweed then grows an attachment organ to penetrate the neighbor's root system. However, witchweed cannot penetrate many root systems. If attachment is not made within four days, the witchweed grows aimlessly and dies in less than a week. If the witchweed successfully attaches to a neighbor's root system, witchweed can enjoy a long and full life being fed by its neighbor's roots. In fact, witchweed changes the hormones produced by its neighbor so that the neighbor's root system grows ever larger at the expense of the stem growth of the victim. While the victim may live its normal span, it will not be allowed enough strength to reproduce.

Witchweed is no simple plant. We learn from the witchweed that the creator's unlimited imagination not only created some very strange living things, but also created some unique solutions to providing a means of living for them.

Jonathan Cotton: To read thousands of short radio scripts like the one you heard today, ask us about our popular line of devotional books, Letting God Create Your Day. Call us toll-free at 1-800-42 Bible.