''Bdallophytum'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s with five described species. It parasitizes on the roots of plants of the genus ''

Bursera ''Bursera'' is a genus with about 100 described species of flowering shrubs and trees varying in size up to high. It is the type genus for Burseraceae. The trees are native (often for many species endemic) to the Americas, from the southern Uni ...

'', such as ''

Bursera simaruba ''Bursera simaruba'', commonly known as gumbo-limbo, the tourist tree, copperwood, almácigo, chaca, West Indian birch, naked Indian, and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to the Neotropics, from South Florid ...

''. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

.Parasiticplants.siu.edu
Cytinaceae
/ref> It was previously placed in ''

Rafflesiaceae The Rafflesiaceae are a family of rare parasitic plants comprising 36 species in 3 genera found in the tropical forests of east and southeast Asia, including ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', which has the largest flowers of all plants. The plants are e ...

'', but is now placed in family

Cytinaceae Cytinaceae is a family of parasitic flowering plants. It comprises two genera, '' Cytinus'' and '' Bdallophytum'', totalling ten species. These two genera were formerly placed in the family Rafflesiaceae, order Malpighiales. When they were separ ...

, together with the only other genus ''

Cytinus ''Cytinus'' is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. Species in this genus do not produce chlorophyll, but rely fully on its host plant. ''Cytinus'' usually parasitizes ''Cistus'' and ''Halimium'', two genera of plants in the family Cistaceae. I ...

''. Some ''Bdallophytum'' species were at one time considered to belong to this latter genus. ''Bdallophytum'' is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

Name

The genus name is probably derived from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''bdell-'' "

leech Leeches are segmented parasitism, parasitic or Predation, predatory worms that comprise the Class (biology), subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the Oligochaeta, oligochaetes, which include the earthwor ...

" and ''phyton'' "plant". It was later misspelled as ''Bdallophyton'' by Eichler, and this synonym is now also in common use.USDA GRIN
Genus ''Bdallophytum'' Eichler

Species

* '' Bdallophytum americanum'' * '' Bdallophytum andrieuxii'' * '' Bdallophytum bambusarum'' * '' Bdallophytum ceratantherum'' * '' Bdallophytum oxylepis''

Footnotes

References

* (2004): Phylogenetic inference in Rafflesiales: the influence of rate heterogeneity and horizontal gene transfer. ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 4: 40.

External links

Cytinaceae References
Malvales genera Cytinaceae Parasitic plants Dioecious plants Taxa named by August W. Eichler {{Malvales-stub

Name

Species

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links