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Exocarpos Longifolius
''Exocarpos longifolius'' is a plant in the family Santalaceae that occurs from Vietnam to the Lesser Sunda Islands and New Guinea. It is an epiphytic parasite rainforest plant with unusual flowers, which for a period of time caused it to be classified as a new gymnosperm family in the order Gnetales Gnetophyta () is a division of plants (alternatively considered the subclass Gnetidae or order Gnetales), grouped within the gymnosperms (which also includes conifers, cycads, and ginkgos), that consists of some 70 species across the three Relict .... References longifolius Epiphytes Flora of Southeast Asia {{Santalales-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santalaceae
The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial plants, perennial herbs, and epiphyte, epiphytic climbersHewson & George [et al.]''Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-194.) which, like other members of Santalales, are partially parasitic on other plants. Its flowers are bisexual or, by abortion ("flower drop"), unisexual.Pilger, R''Santalaceae''(with 17 figures). R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. (1810) 350, pp. 1-45. Modern treatments of the Santalaceae include the family Viscaceae (mistletoes), previously considered distinct. The APG II system of 2003 recognises the family and assigns it to the order Santalales in the clade core eudicots. However, the circumscription by APG is much wider than accepted by previous classifications, including the plants earlier treated in families Eremolepidaceae and Viscaceae. It includes about 1,000 species in 43 genera. Many have reported traditional and cultural uses, inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epiphytic
An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. In some cases, a rainforest tree's epiphytes may total "several tonnes" (several long tons). They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasite
Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson characterised parasites' way of feeding as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as Armillaria mellea, honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the Orobanchaceae, broomrapes. There are six major parasitic Behavioral ecology#Evolutionarily stable strategy, strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), wikt:trophic, trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or temperate rainforests, but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic community, biotic species being Indigenous (ecology), indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "medicine chest (idiom), world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to #Deforestation, deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and air pollution, pollution of the atmosphere. Definition Rainforests are cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gymnosperm
The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetophyta, gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in ( and ), and literally means 'naked seeds'. The name is based on the unenclosed condition of their seeds (called ovules in their unfertilized state). The non-encased condition of their seeds contrasts with the seeds and ovules of flowering plants (angiosperms), which are enclosed within an Ovary (botany), ovary. Gymnosperm seeds develop either on the surface of scales or Leaf, leaves, which are often modified to form Conifer cone, cones, or on their own as in Taxus, yew, ''Torreya'', and ''Ginkgo''. The life cycle of a gymnosperm involves alternation of generations, with a dominant diploid sporophyte phase, and a reduced haploid gam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gnetales
Gnetophyta () is a division of plants (alternatively considered the subclass Gnetidae or order Gnetales), grouped within the gymnosperms (which also includes conifers, cycads, and ginkgos), that consists of some 70 species across the three Relict (biology), relict genus, genera: ''Gnetum'' (Family (biology), family Gnetaceae), ''Welwitschia'' (family Welwitschiaceae), and ''Ephedra (genus), Ephedra'' (family Ephedraceae). The earliest unambiguous records of the group date to the Jurassic, and they achieved their highest diversity during the Early Cretaceous. The primary difference between gnetophytes and other gymnosperms is the presence of vessel elements, a system of small tubes (xylem) that transport water within the plant, similar to those found in flowering plants. Because of this, gnetophytes were once thought to be the closest gymnosperm relatives to flowering plants, but more recent molecular studies have brought this hypothesis into question, with many recent phylogenies f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exocarpos
''Exocarpos'' is a genus of Flowering plant, flowering shrubs and small trees in the sandalwood family, Santalaceae. They are found throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. They are semi-Parasitic plant, parasitic, requiring the roots of a host tree, a trait they share with many other members of the Santalaceae. In Australia, some species are also known as ballarts or cherries. The genus ''Exocarpos'' was first described by Jacques Labillardière on 7 May 1792:I discovered an evergreen tree, which has its nut situated, like that of the acajou, upon a fleshy receptacle much larger than itself. I therefore named this new genus ''exocarpos. . . .'' The principal characters of this plant have led me to rank it among the terebinthinaceous tribe, next to the anacardium. I have given it the name of ''exocarpos cupressiformis''.Convention dictates that the taxon is often expressed as Exocarpos Labill. 1798. The name exocarpos derives from the Greek exo (outside) an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epiphytes
An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. In some cases, a rainforest tree's epiphytes may total "several tonnes" (several long tons). They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
