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 ...
of
mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are '' Nuytsia floribunda'' (the ...
, native to the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
, ranging from
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
and
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
perennials
In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
usually occurring as aerial
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 str ...
s, are pollinated by
hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...
and flowerpiercers, with seed-dispersal generally by birds but occasionally by mammals ('' Dromiciops''). The genus is distinguished from other
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
Loranthaceae by its simple, terminal,
racemose
A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoo ...
inflorescences
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's 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 main axis ( pe ...
endosperm
The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the Embryo#Pla ...
. Further differences include fused
cotyledons
A cotyledon ( ; ; "a cavity, small cup, any cup-shaped hollow",
gen. (), ) is a "seed leaf" – a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant – and is formally defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or mor ...
and the absence of epicortical roots.
Phylogeny
''Tristerix'' was first described in 1830 by Martius, who published three species: ''T. viridiflorus'' (now '' Macrosolen viridiflorus'', ''T. tetrandus'' (now '' T. corymbosus'') and ''T. reinwardtianus'' (now '' Macrosolen avenis''). In 1868,
Eichler Several people are named Eichler:
* August W. Eichler (1839–1887), German botanist
* Caroline Eichler (1808/9–1843), German inventor, first woman to be awarded a patent (for her leg prosthesis)
* Eunice Eichler (1932–2017), New Zealand Salvat ...
placed ''Loranthus aphyllus'' and ''L. tetrandrus'' in the genus '' Phrygillanthus''. However, in 1973, Barlow & Wiens recognised these two ''Phrygilanthus'' species as '' Tristerix aphyllus'' and '' T. corymbosus'', respectively, returning ''Tristerix'' to use.
Martius described the genus as having three bracts. However, this characteristic applies to only two species of the genus ('' T. aphyllus'' and '' T. corymbosus''). In these, two bracteoles inside a primary bract lie below the ovary. The other members of the genus have no bracteoles.Van Tieghem (1895) divided the genus into two subgenera; those species without bracteoles - ''Metastachys'' (with 9 species), and those with bracteoles - ''Tristerix'' (with 2 species - '' T. aphyllus'' and '' T. corymbosus''). This division is accepted by Kuijt.
A phylogenetic study of 10 ''Tristerix''
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), ...
by Amico ''et al.'' (2007) found evidence for three groupings. A simplified consensus cladogram of their conclusions, from analyses which used two different character sets and three methods (maximum likelihood, minimum parsimony, and Bayesian inference) for finding the tree, is given below. Note that the grouping of the ''Tristerix'' species with bracteoles remains.
See