''Buckleya distichophylla'', commonly called piratebush, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the family

Santalaceae The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, and epiphytic climbersHewson & George t al.br>''Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-194.) which, like other memb ...

, native to the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. It is a rare plant, found only in sporadic mountainous areas of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

. ''Buckleya distichophylla'' is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

shrub growing to heights of up to , with leaves that are 2-4 inches in length requiring direct sunlight to grow. Its

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s are long with 4 yellow-green, long narrow

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or o ...

. What makes the piratebush unique is in how it survives. The plant does not survive on

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

only as its pale green leaves indicate less

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to ...

than other plants. In addition to photosynthesis, piratebush receives nutrients through

parasitizing Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

other species. The plant is hemiparasitic, attaching itself to the root systems of other plants with structures called

haustoria In botany and mycology, a haustorium (plural haustoria) is a rootlike structure that grows into or around another structure to absorb water or nutrients. For example, in mistletoe or members of the broomrape family, the structure penetrates th ...

and draw nutrients through them. Although originally thought to attach itself only to hemlock trees, it has since been determined that piratebush can attach to many different species. At present, piratebush has only been identified in mountainous areas of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The greatest concentration of the plant can be found within the

Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve is a Natural Area Preserve located on Poor Mountain in Roanoke County, Virginia. The preserve protects the world's largest population of piratebush ('' Buckleya distichophylla''), a globally rare parasitic ...

atop

Poor Mountain Poor Mountain is a ridge of high peaks located in Roanoke County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Virginia. At 3,928 feet, Poor Mountain is the tallest mountain in the immediate area. Poor Mountain has the largest known population, by far, of ...

, approximately southwest of Roanoke in

Roanoke County Roanoke County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 96,929. Its county seat is Salem, but the county administrative offices are located in the unincorporated Cave ...

. The number of piratebush plants on Poor Mountain is greater than all of the others existing at other locations. Although many other locations in the

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...

feature habitats that seemingly would support piratebush, scientists have yet to determine why the plant exists in so few places. The plant was initially discovered and described as a member of the genus ''

Borya ''Borya'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boryaceae, endemic to Australia. , the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 11 species:Search for "Borya", The Western Australia Flora lists nine current taxa. * ''Borya ...

'' in the

olive family Oleaceae, also known as the olive family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales, It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Green. 2004. "Oleaceae". pages 296 ...

Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle in the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

in 1818 along the

French Broad River The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows from near the town of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville form ...

in the vicinity of Paint Rock in

Western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United S ...

. The plant was rediscovered in 1843 by Samuel Buckley with

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focusing on ...

classifying the plant as ''Buckleya distichophylla''.Plant of the Week, United States Department of Agriculture, National Forest Service
/ref>

References

External links

Southeastern Flora
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4983376 Santalaceae Flora of the Southwestern United States Plants described in 1818 Taxa named by John Torrey Taxa named by Thomas Nuttall