Rhamphicarpa fistulosa
Rhamphicarpa fistulosa (common name: rice vampireweed) is a flowering plant species in the family Orobanchaceae (formerly in the family Scrophulariaceae) - and the genus Rhamphicarpa. The plant is pale-green but can turn reddish towards maturity. It has needle-like leaves and white flowers with long corolla tubes. The flowers only open after sunset and are supposedly pollinated by night moths. The plant has a broad distribution in Africa (from Guinea to Madagascar and from Sudan to South Africa) and can also be found in New Guinea and northern Australia. Rhamphicarpa fistulosa is an annual facultative hemi-parasitic forb species. It is a very widespread species in seasonally flooded wetlands in tropical and sub-tropical Africa, and it is increasingly important as a parasitic weeds in rain-fed lowland rice systems in Africa, where yield losses of more than 60% are typically reported. It is particularly a problem in rice fields prone to temporary, uncontrolled flooding. Management strategies against Rhamphicarpa fistulosa are limited; hand-weeding, permanent flooding, fertilizer applications and the use of herbicides are currently known, effective control measures. In addition, a number of high-yielding, resistance and tolerant rice varieties has recently been identified. A team of researchers from the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), Wageningen