''Viscum minimum'' is a species of
mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant ...
in the family
Santalaceae. It is a
parasitic plant native to
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
.
Description
In its native habitat ''Viscum minimum'' uses two species of succulents, ''
Euphorbia polygona'' and ''
Euphorbia horrida'', as host plants. However, given the opportunity, the plant uses a range of
succulents, including
cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...
, as hosts.
A mature ''Viscum minimum'' consists mostly of
haustoria within the host plant, but a small stems of less than one millimeter in length with a single whorl of 2-3 scale-like
leaves. A single
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 ...
, and later a red round fruit with a diameter of 8-9 millimeters, emerges from these stems. The leaves and stems are capable of
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 ...
, making the plant technically a hemiparasite.
The ''Viscum minimum''
mitochondrial genome
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
has been
sequenced, showing an unusual loss of genes or their functions.
[Massive gene loss in mistletoe (Viscum, Viscaceae) mitochondri]
Nature
Accessed 5.1.2018
Seed germination
Image:Viscum minimum horrida tag00 ies.jpg, Day 1: The sticky seed has landed on the host plant.
Image:Viscum minimum horrida tag04 ies.jpg, Day 4: Germination has commenced.
Image:Viscum minimum horrida tag10 ies.jpg, Day 10: The shoot emerges from the seed.
Image:Viscum minimum horrida tag23 ies.jpg, Day 23: The shoot has made contact with the host plant.
Image:Viscum minimum horrida tag30 ies.jpg, Day 30: The primary haustorium has developed.
Literature
* William Henry Harvey: Flora Capensis 2: 581
* Robert Allen Dyer: ''Two Rare Parasites on Succulent Species of Euphorbia'', Euphorbia Review Vol. I (4): 29-32, 1935
* Thomas Goebel: ''Viscum minimum Harvey in der Sukkulentensammlung der Stadt Zürich'', Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten 29 (1), 1978
* Frank K. Horwood: ''Two parasites of Euphorbia: Viscum minimum and Hydnora africana'', The Euphorbia Journal, Vol 1: 45-48, 1983
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q244253
minimum
In mathematical analysis, the maxima and minima (the respective plurals of maximum and minimum) of a function, known collectively as extrema (the plural of extremum), are the largest and smallest value of the function, either within a given r ...
Parasitic plants