''Bellardia trixago'' is a

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), ...

of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It was formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae. The only member of the monotypic genus ''Bellardia'', it is known as trixago bartsia or Mediterranean lineseed. This plant is native to the Mediterranean Basin, but it is known in other places with similar climates, such as

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and parts of Chile, where it is an introduced species and noxious weed.

Description

''Bellardia trixago'' is an erect plant often reaching over half a meter in height. Its foliage is rich green and dotted with glands and hairs. The sawtoothed leaves extend about halfway up the plant, with the upper half of the stem being occupied with a stout

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

which narrows to a point. The inflorescence has rows of leaflike bracts, between which emerge showy purple and white lipped, hooded flowers, each over two centimeters wide. The fruit is a smooth, green capsule. Mediterranean lineseed, like other broomrapes, is parasitic; this species is hemiparasitic in that it is green and photosynthetic but also taps into the roots of other plants to extract nutrients.

Phylogeny

The phylogeny of the genera of Rhinantheae has been explored using molecular characters. ''Bellardia'' belongs to the core Rhinantheae. ''Bellardia'' is closely related to '' Parentucellia'', to some ''

Bartsia ''Bartsia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae. Etymology ''Bartsia'' was named after Johann Bartsch (Latinized as Johannes Bartsius, 1709-1738), a botanist of Königsberg. The plant was named for him by his associate ...

'' taxa, and to '' Odontites''. In turn, these genera share phylogenetic affinities with '' Tozzia'' and '' Hedbergia'', and then with '' Euphrasia'' and ''

''.

Etymology

The genus name ''Bellardia'' is a taxonomic patronym in honor of Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi (1741-1826), an Italian botanist from

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. The species name ''trixago'' has two possible etymologies. * It derives from the

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 ...

word (), meaning "hair", and the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

suffix ''ago'' used to indicate a property, and refers to the glandular-hairy characteristic of the plant. * It derives from the

word , , or (, , or ), meaning "triple", and refers to the trilobate lower lip of the flower. It is also the old Latin name of germanders (genus '' Teucrium'').

Distribution and habitat

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment

California Invasive Plant Council

Photo gallery
Orobanchaceae Parasitic plants Flora of Europe Flora of Africa Flora of temperate Asia {{Orobanchaceae-stub