The plant Arachnitis uniflora is non-photosynthetic; it does not produce its own sugar from sunlight, CO2, and water, instead it steals it from other plants through Glomus-genus fungi that has formed a bond with the plants, giving them nutrients from the soil in exchange for sugars that they produce. This bond is known as a mycorrhizal bond. The relationship of the A. uniflora to the fungus and other plants is called epiparasitism. Other nonphotosynthetic plants also form similar relationships to acquire sugar. All such plants are very specific about what fungi they bond with.

Purpose: To examine the overall effect of the infection of a mycorrhizal bond by an epiparasitic plant on the plant in the mycorrhizal bond. This will make the epiparasite relationship better understood in general. This is a very interesting relationship.

Hypothesis: The A. uniflora-infected plants will grow more slowly than those with only mycorrhiza. However, they will not be reduced below the growth rate of the plants with no mycorrhizal bonds.

This will happen if the boost to growth from the fungus helping the plant to get nutrients outweighs the reduction from the A. uniflora siphoning off sugar, or if it merely takes the sugar already given to the fungus by the plants. If the growth of the infected plants is less than those with no mycorrhizal bonds, than it means that the A. uniflora either causes the fungus to draw on the plant more than usual, or it draws on the plant directly, rather than what the plant has already given the fungus.

Procedures: 48 tomato plants will be grown in separate pots. 32 of them will be planted in soil containing mycorrhizal fungi(Glomus mossae, G. intraradices, and G. aggregatum) and 16 of those 32 with Arachnitis uniflora. Their growth will then be measured. They will be watered every other day with 1200 mL of water between them, or 25mL per pot. They will be exposed to light constantly from a bar-shaped light above all of the pots.

Results/Analysis: The change in height of the various sets of plants will be compared, noting when the A. uniflora sprouts in those pots that were infected with it. This will show the difference between the infected and uninfected plants, and also reveal what effect the sprouting of the A. uniflora has on the arowth rate of the infected plants.