Now that I've grossed most of you out with my last week's pick, I think I'll go ahead and make this week's pest a little easier to look at.
The image looks like a mustard plant with nice, yellow flowers. But alas! It is actually the product of this week's parasite, the rust fungus Puccinia monoica.
The fungus infects mustard plants and completely changes their 'behavior' to facilitate its own reproduction. Firstly, the fungus infects the plant as a whole, stealing nutrients and generally acting like a parasite. But Puccinia is a sexual fungus - to reproduce it must combine genes with another…
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