ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition By Colin Moock
Chapter 18. ActionScript Language Reference
XML.parentNode Property
Flash 5
a reference to the immediate ancestor of a node
read-only
theNode.parentNode
Description
The parentNode property returns a reference to the node object from which theNode descends in the XML object hierarchy, where theNode can be an XML or XMLnode instance. If theNode is the top (root) node of the current hierarchy, parentNode returns null.
In this XML source fragment, the MESSAGE node is the parentNode of text node "hey":
<MESSAGE>hey</MESSAGE>
Here, the parentNode of the ROOM node is the HOTEL node: