A recent study has concluded some pretty creepy -- and pretty awesome -- things about the way that a parastic plant operates. According to scientists, this "vampire" plant uses a secret language to communicate.

The parasitic plant Cuscuta pentagona, more commonly known as strangleweed or dodder, is a plant that preys on many common crop plants, acting as a parasitic siphon of the other plant's water and nutrients. But what shocked researchers is that it also exchanges genetic messages with its victim, according to a study in the journal Science.

This plant communication allows them to share an extraordinary amount of genetic information with one another, which is a huge breakthrough in the idea of plant language.

"The discovery of this novel form of inter-organism communication shows that this is happening a lot more than any one has previously realized," said Westwood, who is an affiliated researcher with the Fralin Life Science Institute. "Now that we have found that they are sharing all this information, the next question is, 'What exactly are they telling each other?'"

According to phys.org, Westwood examined the relationship between a parasitic plant, dodder, and two host plants, Arabidopsis and tomatoes. What he found is that the dodder uses an appendage called a haustorium to penetrate the plant, which then zaps moisture and nutrients from the host.

According to Westwood's research, part of that process sends messages within cells telling them which actions to take, including which proteins to code.

The interesting thing about the new study is that according to Westwood's previous research, mRNA was thought to be very fragile and short-lived, so transferring it between species was virtually unimaginable until now.

What Westwood found during the recent study was that rather than mRNA being short-lived, thousands upon thousands of mRNA molecules are actually being exchanged between both plants during that process, creating an open dialogue between the species that allows them to freely communicate, much in contradiction to prior thoughts on the subject.

According to phys.org, during this process, the parasitic plants may actually be dictating what the host plant should do, such as lowering its defenses so that the parasitic plant can more easily attack it.

The findings on this vampire plant are just the beginning for Westwood; his next research project will aim at finding out what exactly the mRNA are saying in this secret language.