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Parasitic Plants
A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the haustorium, which penetrates the host plant, connecting them to the host vasculature—either the xylem, phloem, or both. For example, plants like ''Striga'' or ''Rhinanthus'' connect only to the xylem, via xylem bridges (xylem-feeding). Alternately, plants like ''Cuscuta'' and some members of ''Orobanche'' connect to both the xylem and phloem of the host. This provides them with the ability to extract resources from the host. These resources can include water, nitrogen, carbon and/or sugars. Parasitic plants are classified depending on the location where the parasitic plant latches onto the host (root or stem), the amount of nutrients it requires, and their photosynthetic capability. Some parasitic plants can locate their host plants by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuscuta Parasite Plant
''Cuscuta'' (), commonly known as dodder or amarbel, is a genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now is accepted as belonging in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae, on the basis of the work of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. The genus is found throughout the middle latitudes, temperate and tropics, tropical regions of the world, with the greatest species diversity in subtropics, subtropical and tropical regions; the genus becomes rare in cool temperate climates, with only four species native to northern Europe. Folk names include strangle tare, strangleweed, scaldweed, beggarweed, lady's laces, fireweed, wizard's net, devil's guts, devil's hair, devil's ringlet, goldthread, hailweed, hairweed, hellbine, love vine, pull-down, angel hair, and witch's hair. Description ''Cuscuta'' can be identified by its thin stems appearing leafless, with the leaf, leaves reduced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour, or ecological niche. In addition, palaeontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomen". The first part of a binomen is the name of a genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name (zoology), specific name or the specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow Rattle
''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus ''Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An annual plant, yellow rattle grows up to tall, with upright stems and opposite, simple leaves. The fruit is a dry capsule, with loose, rattling seeds. The preferred habitat of ''Rhinanthus minor'' is dry fields or meadows; it tolerates a wide range of soil types. It flowers in the summer between May and September. It is hemiparasitic, notably on Poaceae (grasses) and Fabaceae (legumes), and farmers consider it to be a pest, as it reduces grass growth. Yellow rattle is used to create or restore wildflower meadows, where it maintains species diversity by suppressing dominant grasses and the recycling of soil nutrients. The seed is sown thinly onto grassland from August to November—to germinate the following spring, the seeds need to remai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuytsia Floribunda
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a Hemiparasite, hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the austral summer coincides with the Christmas season. Description The habit of the species may be a tree up to high, or as a lower-growing shrub. The rough Bark (botany), bark is grey-brown. Flower, Flowers are a vivid, yellow-orange, appearing sometime between October and January. The inflorescence on each flowering stem may be up to in length. This species is a root hemiparasite, is Photosynthesis, photosynthetic, and mainly obtains its water and mineral nutrients from its hosts. The haustorium, haustoria arising from the roots of ''Nuytsia'' attach themselves to the roots of many adjacent plants, drawing water and nutrients from them. Almost all other nearby species are susceptible to attack; haustoria have even been foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photosynthetic
Photosynthesis ( ) is a Biological system, system of biological processes by which Photoautotrophism, photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabolism. ''Photosynthesis'' usually refers to oxygenic photosynthesis, a process that produces oxygen. Photosynthetic organisms store the chemical energy so produced within intracellular organic compounds (compounds containing carbon) like sugars, glycogen, cellulose and starches. To use this stored chemical energy, an organism's cells metabolize the organic compounds through cellular respiration. Photosynthesis plays a critical role in producing and maintaining the atmospheric oxygen, oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere, and it supplies most of the biological energy necessary for complex life on Earth. Some bacteria also perform anoxygenic photosynthesis, which uses bacteriochlorophyll to split hydrogen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facultative Parasite
A facultative parasite is an organism that may resort to parasitic activity, but does not absolutely rely on any host for completion of its life cycle. Examples of facultative parasitism occur among many species of fungi, such as family members of the genus '' Armillaria''. ''Armillaria'' species do parasitise living trees, but if the tree dies, whether as a consequence of the fungal infection or not, the fungus continues to eat the wood without further need for parasitic activity; some species even can ingest dead wood without any parasitic activity at all. As such, although they also are important ecological agents in the process of nutrient recycling by microbial decomposition, the fungi become pests in their role as destructive agents of wood rot. Similarly, green plants in genera such as ''Rhinanthus'' and '' Osyris'' can grow independently of any host, but they also act opportunistically as facultative root parasites of neighboring green plants. Among animals, facultati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obligate Parasite
An obligate parasite or holoparasite is a parasitic organism that cannot complete its life-cycle without exploiting a suitable host. If an obligate parasite cannot obtain a host it will fail to reproduce. This is opposed to a facultative parasite, which can act as a parasite but does not rely on its host to continue its life-cycle. Obligate parasites have evolved a variety of parasitic strategies to exploit their hosts. It is advantageous for the parasite to preserve the health of its host when this is compatible with its nutritional and reproductive requirements, except when the death of the host is necessary for transmission.Combes, C. (1997) Fitness of Parasites: Pathology and Selection ''International Journal for Parasitology'' 27 (1): 1–10. Species Obligate parasitism is exhibited in a range of organisms, with examples in viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals.Balashov, Yu.S. (2011) Parasitism and Ecological Parasitology. ''Entomological Review'' 91 (9): 1216–1223. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhododendrons
''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, but smaller numbers occur elsewhere in Asia, and in North America, Europe and Australia. It is the national flower of Nepal, the state flower of Washington and West Virginia in the United States, the state flower of Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh in India, the provincial flower of Jeju Province in South Korea, the provincial flower of Jiangxi in China and the state tree of Sikkim and Uttarakhand in India. Most species have brightly coloured flowers which bloom from late winter through to early summer. Azaleas make up two subgenera of ''Rhododendron''. They are distinguished from "true" rhododendrons by having only five anthers per flower. Etymology The common and generic name comes . Description ''Rhododendron'' is a genus of shru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it the 14th most species-rich family of flowering plants. The many well known and economically important members of the Ericaceae include the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron (including azaleas), and various common heaths and heathers (''Erica (plant), Erica'', ''Cassiope'', ''Daboecia'', and ''Calluna'' for example). Description The Ericaceae contain a morphologically diverse range of taxa, including Herbaceous plant, herbs, chamaephyte, dwarf shrubs, shrubs, and trees. Their leaves are usually evergreen, alternate or whorled, simple and without stipules. Their flowers are Plant sexuality#Individual plant sexuality, hermaphrodite and show considerable variability. The petals are often fused (sympetalous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monotropa Uniflora
''Monotropa uniflora'', also known as ghost plant, ghost pipe, or Indian pipe, is an herbaceous, parasitic, non- photosynthesizing, perennial flowering plant native to temperate regions of Asia, North America, and northern South America, but with large gaps between areas. The plant is waxy white, but some specimens have been described as having black flecks or pale pink coloration. Rare variants may have a deep red color. The name "Monotropa" is Greek for "one turn" and "uniflora" is Latin for "one flowered" as there is one sharply curved stem for each single flower. ''M.uniflora'' is commonly found growing in clumps of 2 or more, with its fungal source nearby. Description The stems reach heights of , sheathed with highly reduced leaves long, best identified as scales or bracts. These structures are small, thin, and translucent; they do not have petioles but instead extend in a sheath-like manner out of the stem. As its scientific name suggests, and unlike the related ''Monotro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balanophoraceae
The Balanophoraceae are a subtropical to tropical family of obligate parasitic flowering plants, notable for their unusual development and formerly obscure affinities. In the broadest circumscription, the family consists of 16 genera. Alternatively, three genera may be split off into the segregate family Mystropetalaceae. The plants are normally found growing on tree roots in moist inland forests and have an above ground inflorescence with the overall appearance of a fungus, composed of numerous minute flowers. The inflorescences develop inside the tuberous underground part of the plant, before rupturing it and surfacing. The plants are monoecious or dioecious, and the fruits are indehiscent drupes or nuts. The underground portion, which attaches itself to the host, looks like a tuber, and is not a proper root system. The plants contain no chlorophyll. ''Balanophora'' means "bearing an acorn" (from the shape of the female inflorescence). Taxonomy In the classification system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
