Pilostyles
Genus of flowering plants
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pilostyles is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apodanthaceae. It includes about 11 species of very small, completely parasitic plants that live inside the stems of woody legumes.[1][2] Plants of this genus are sometimes referred to as stemsuckers.[3]
| Pilostyles | |
|---|---|
| |
| A cluster of Pilostyles hamiltonii flowers growing out of a Daviesia stem | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Apodanthaceae |
| Genus: | Pilostyles Guill. |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Berlinianche (Harms) Vattimo-Gil | |
The plants completely lack stems, roots, leaves, and chlorophyll. While not flowering, they do not resemble most plants, living entirely inside the host as " [...] a mycelium-like endophyte formed by strands of parenchyma cells that are in close contact to the host vasculature".[4] Their presence is only noticeable when the flowers emerge out of the stems of the host plant.[2]
Pilostyles is dioecious, with separate male and female plants.[5] Male and female plants are not commonly known to inhabit the same host.[6] Flowers are two or three millimeters wide and in some species each female flower can produce over 100 seeds, which are less than 1 mm (0.04 in) long.[7][6] These seeds contain embryos composed of just eight cells, the smallest dicot embryo presently known.[8]
Species are found in several countries, with a discontinuous distribution. Species have been found in most of South America and tropical Africa, and also in Australia, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Syria, Turkey, and the United States.[1][9]
Species include:[1]
- Pilostyles aethiopica Welw.
- Pilostyles berteroi Guill.
- Pilostyles blanchetii (Gardner) R.Br.
- Pilostyles boyacensis F.Gonzáles & Pabón-Mora
- Pilostyles coccoidea K.R.Thiele
- Pilostyles collina Dell
- Pilostyles hamiltonii C.A.Gardner
- Pilostyles haussknechtii Boiss.
- Pilostyles maya P.Ortega, Gonz.-Martínez & S.Vásquez
- Pilostyles mexicana (Brandegee) Rose
- Pilostyles thurberi A.Gray
The genus was formerly considered a member of Rafflesiaceae, and was re-classified after new DNA evidence.[10][9]
