Bdallophytum is a genus of parasitic flowering plants with five described species. It parasitizes on the roots of plants of the genus Bursera, such as Bursera simaruba. The genus is endemic to the Neotropics.[1]

Bdallophytum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Cytinaceae
Genus: Bdallophytum
Eichler, 1872
Species

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Synonyms

Bdallophyton

It was previously placed in Rafflesiaceae, but is now placed in family Cytinaceae, together with the only other genus Cytinus. Some Bdallophytum species were at one time considered to belong to this latter genus.[2]

Bdallophytum is dioecious.[3]

Name

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The genus name is probably derived from Ancient Greek bdell- "leech" and phyton "plant". It was later misspelled as Bdallophyton by Eichler, and this synonym is now also in common use.[4]

Species

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Parasiticplants.siu.edu: Cytinaceae
  2. ^ Diversity of Life: Cytinus
  3. ^ Nickrent et al. 2004
  4. ^ USDA GRIN: Genus Bdallophytum Eichler Archived 2012-09-12 at the Wayback Machine

References

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  • Nickrent, Daniel L.; Blarer, Albert; Qiu, Yin-Long; Vidal-Russell, Romina & Anderson, Frank E. (2004): Phylogenetic inference in Rafflesiales: the influence of rate heterogeneity and horizontal gene transfer. BMC Evolutionary Biology 4: 40. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-4-40

Further reading

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  • García-Franco, José; López-Portillo, Jorge & Ángeles, Guillermo (2006): The holoparasitic endophyte Bdallophyton americanum affects root water conductivity of the tree Bursera simaruba. Trees - Structure and Function 21(2): 215–220. doi:10.1007/s00468-006-0113-z
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