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 | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Cytinaceae |
Genus: | Bdallophytum Eichler, 1872 |
Species | |
See text | |
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]
Name
editThe 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
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Parasiticplants.siu.edu: Cytinaceae
- ^ Diversity of Life: Cytinus
- ^ Nickrent et al. 2004
- ^ USDA GRIN: Genus Bdallophytum Eichler Archived 2012-09-12 at the Wayback Machine
References
edit- 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
edit- 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
External links
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