Orobanchaceae
Encyclopedia
Orobanchaceae, the broomrape family, is a family
of flowering plant
s of the order
Lamiales
, with about 90 genera
and more than 2000 species
. Many of these genera were formerly included in the family Scrophulariaceae
sensu lato. Together they are a monophyletic group, forming a distinct family.
This is a cosmopolitan family, found mainly in temperate
Eurasia
, North America
, South America
, parts of Australia
, New Zealand
and tropical Africa
.
The Orobanchaceae are annual
herb
s or perennial
herbs or shrub
s, and all (except Lindenbergia
and Rehmannia
) are parasitic
on the root
s of other plants – either holoparasitic or hemiparasitic (fully or partly parasitic). The holoparasitic species lack chlorophyll
and therefore cannot perform photosynthesis
. They may be yellowish, brownish, purplish, or white. Their alternate leaves
have been reduced to somewhat fleshy, sessile scales. The hemiparasitic species (transferred from Scrophulariaceae) are capable of photosynthesis, and may be either facultative or obligate parasites.
Parasitic plants are attached to their host by means of haustoria
, which transfer nutrient
s from the host to the parasite. Only the hemiparasitic species possess an additional extensive root system. In most holoparasitic species there is a swollen mass of short, bulky roots or one big swollen haustorial organ, which may be simple or composite.
The hermaphroditic
flowers are bilaterally symmetrical and grow either in raceme
s or spikes or singly at the apex of the slender stem. The tubular calyx
is formed by 2-5 united sepals. There are five united, bilabiate petal
s forming the corolla. The upper lip is two-lobed, the lower lip is three-lobed. There are two long and two short stamen
s on slender filaments, inserted below the middle, or at the base of the corolla tube, alternating with the lobes of the tube. A fifth stamen
is either sterile or lacking completely. The anthers dehisce via longitudinal slits. The pistil is one-celled. The ovary is superior. The flowers are pollinated
by insects or birds (e.g. hummingbird
s, as in Castilleja
).
The fruit
is a dehiscent, non-fleshy, 1-locular capsule
with many very minute endospermic seed
s. These are dispersed by the wind over long distances, which increases their chance of find a new host.
This family has tremendous economic importance because of the damage to crops caused by some species in the genera Orobanche and Striga
.
in Mexico
. It is an orange-brown, fleshy-stemmed parasitic plant, with a pine cone-shaped dense cluster of flowers and juicy celery-like stalks. According to George Yatskievych, the St. Louis botanist who made the recent find, the plant's formal Latin
name will mean "little hermit
of Mexico." He expects it will be both a new species
and a new genus
because "it is so unusual and distinct that it cannot be included in any of the existing genera in the plant family Orobanchaceae". It is a parasite of Hedyosmum mexicanum
.
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s of the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Lamiales
Lamiales
Lamiales is an order in the asterid group of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It includes approximately 11,000 species divided into about 20 families...
, with about 90 genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
and more than 2000 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. Many of these genera were formerly included in the family Scrophulariaceae
Scrophulariaceae
Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family, are a family of flowering plants. The plants are annual or perennial herbs with flowers with bilateral or rarely radial symmetry. Members of the Scrophulariaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority found in temperate areas, including...
sensu lato. Together they are a monophyletic group, forming a distinct family.
This is a cosmopolitan family, found mainly in temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, parts of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and tropical Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
The Orobanchaceae are annual
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
herb
Herbaceous plant
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
s or perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
herbs or shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s, and all (except Lindenbergia
Lindenbergia
Lindenbergia is a genus of herbaceous plants in family Orobanchaceae. It contains 12 species found in Africa and Asia, and is most abundant in India.It is named in honor of Johann Bernhard Wilhelm Lindenberg, a lawyer and bryologist from Germany....
and Rehmannia
Rehmannia
Rehmannia is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales, endemic to China.The genus was included in the family Scrophulariaceae or Gesneriaceae in some older classifications. The current placement of the genus is in neither Scrophulariaceae s.s. nor Plantaginaceae s.l....
) are parasitic
Parasitic plant
A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem, phloem, or...
on the root
Root
In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...
s of other plants – either holoparasitic or hemiparasitic (fully or partly parasitic). The holoparasitic species lack chlorophyll
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...
and therefore cannot perform photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
. They may be yellowish, brownish, purplish, or white. Their alternate leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
have been reduced to somewhat fleshy, sessile scales. The hemiparasitic species (transferred from Scrophulariaceae) are capable of photosynthesis, and may be either facultative or obligate parasites.
Parasitic plants are attached to their host by means of haustoria
Haustorium
In botany, a haustorium is the appendage or portion of a parasitic fungus or of the root of a parasitic plant that penetrates the host's tissue and draws nutrients from it. Haustoria do not penetrate the host's cell membranes.Fungi in all major divisions form haustoria...
, which transfer nutrient
Nutrient
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy...
s from the host to the parasite. Only the hemiparasitic species possess an additional extensive root system. In most holoparasitic species there is a swollen mass of short, bulky roots or one big swollen haustorial organ, which may be simple or composite.
The hermaphroditic
Hermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
flowers are bilaterally symmetrical and grow either in raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
s or spikes or singly at the apex of the slender stem. The tubular calyx
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
is formed by 2-5 united sepals. There are five united, bilabiate petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s forming the corolla. The upper lip is two-lobed, the lower lip is three-lobed. There are two long and two short stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s on slender filaments, inserted below the middle, or at the base of the corolla tube, alternating with the lobes of the tube. A fifth stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
is either sterile or lacking completely. The anthers dehisce via longitudinal slits. The pistil is one-celled. The ovary is superior. The flowers are pollinated
Pollination
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains transport the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...
by insects or birds (e.g. hummingbird
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
s, as in Castilleja
Castilleja
Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or Prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in Siberia...
).
The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a dehiscent, non-fleshy, 1-locular capsule
Capsule (fruit)
In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels that in most cases is dehiscent, i.e. at maturity, it splits apart to release the seeds within. A few capsules are indehiscent, for example...
with many very minute endospermic seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s. These are dispersed by the wind over long distances, which increases their chance of find a new host.
This family has tremendous economic importance because of the damage to crops caused by some species in the genera Orobanche and Striga
Striga (plant)
Striga, commonly known as witches weed, is a genus of 28 species of parasitic plants that occur naturally in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Witchweeds are characterized by bright-green stems and leaves and small, brightly colored flowers. Furthermore, they are obligate parasites of roots...
.
New genus and species
A species that had not been seen since 1985 was rediscovered in the Sierra Madre del SurSierra Madre del Sur
The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Istmo de Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca.-Geography:...
in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It is an orange-brown, fleshy-stemmed parasitic plant, with a pine cone-shaped dense cluster of flowers and juicy celery-like stalks. According to George Yatskievych, the St. Louis botanist who made the recent find, the plant's formal Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name will mean "little hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
of Mexico." He expects it will be both a new species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and a new genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
because "it is so unusual and distinct that it cannot be included in any of the existing genera in the plant family Orobanchaceae". It is a parasite of Hedyosmum mexicanum
Hedyosmum mexicanum
Hedyosmum mexicanum is a species of plant in the Chloranthaceae family. It is found in Guatemala and Mexico. It is threatened by habitat loss....
.
Genera
- Aeginetia (holoparasitic)
- AgalinisAgalinisAgalinis Raf. is a genus of about 70 species in North, Central, and South America that until recently was aligned with members of the family Scrophulariaceae. As a result of numerous molecular phylogenetic studies based on various chloroplast DNA loci, it was shown to be more closely related to...
gerardia (hemiparasitic) - Alectra (hemiparasitic)
- Ancistrostylis (hemiparasitic)
- Asepalum (hemiparasitic)
- Aureolaria (hemiparasitic)
- BartsiaBartsiaBartsia is a genus of plant in family Orobanchaceae. It contains the following species :* Bartsia alba, Molau* Bartsia pumila, Benth....
(hemiparasitic) - Bellardia (hemiparasitic)
- BoschniakiaBoschniakiaBoschniakia is a small genus of three species of parasitic plant in the broomrape family. They are known commonly as groundcones and they are native to western North America and extreme northeastern Asia....
: Groundcone (holoparasitic) - Brandisia (hemiparasitic)
- BuchneraBuchneraBuchnera can refer to:*Buchnera , a plant genus from the family Orobanchaceae*Buchnera , a genus of proteobacteria...
(hemiparasitic) - Bungea (hemiparasitic)
- Buttonia (hemiparasitic)
- CastillejaCastillejaCastilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or Prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in Siberia...
: Indian Paintbrush (hemiparasitic) - Cellulanus parvus : Little Hermit of Mexico (holoparasitic)
- CentrantheraCentrantheraCentranthera is a genus of plants in the family Orobanchaceae .The name Centranthera Scheidw. 1842 is an invalid name for the orchid genus Pleurothallis....
(hemiparasitic) - Christisonia (holoparasitic)
- CistancheCistancheCistanche is a worldwide genus of holoparasitic desert plants in the family Orobanchaceae. They lack chlorophyll and obtain nutrients and water from the host plants whose roots they parasitize.-Uses:...
(holoparasitic) - ClevelandiaClevelandia (plant genus)Clevelandia beldingii is a species of hemiparasitic plants in the broomrape family, the only species in the genus Clevelandia. It is native to Baja California and Baja California Sur, in northwestern Mexico....
(hemiparasitic) - ConopholisConopholisConopholis is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae.-Species:*Conopholis alpina, alpine cancer-root**Conopholis alpina var. mexicana, Mexican cancer-root...
: Cancer-root (holoparasitic) - CordylanthusCordylanthusCordylanthus is a genus of plants in the broomrape family native to western North America. They are known commonly as bird's beaks. Like other broomrape relatives, bird's beaks are root parasites which insert haustoria into the roots of host plants to obtain nutrients. These are spare,...
: Bird's-beak (hemiparasitic) - Cycnium (hemiparasitic)
- Cymbaria (hemiparasitic)
- Dasistoma (hemiparasitic)
- Epifagus : Beechdrops (holoparasitic)
- Escobedia (hemiparasitic)
- Esterhazya (hemiparasitic)
- EuphrasiaEuphrasiaEuphrasia is a genus of about 450 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae , with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are semi-parasitic on grasses and other plants...
(hemiparasitic) - Gerardiina (hemiparasitic)
- Ghikaea (hemiparasitic)
- Gleadovia (holoparasitic)
- GraderiaGraderiaGraderia is a genus of plant in family Orobanchaceae. Some species in the genus are:* Graderia fruticosa, Balf.f.* Graderia subintegra Mast....
(hemiparasitic) - HarveyaHarveya (plant)Harveya is a genus of parasitic plants in the broom-rape family Orobanchaceae. The approximately 40 species included are native to Africa and the Mascarene Islands.It was named after William Henry Harvey, thus achieving one of his childhood ambitions...
(holoparasitic) - Hedbergia (hemiparasitic)
- Hyobanche (holoparasitic)
- Lamourouxia (hemiparasitic)
- Lathraea Toothwort (holoparasitic)
- Leptorhabdos (hemiparasitic)
- Leucosalpa (hemiparasitic)
- LindenbergiaLindenbergiaLindenbergia is a genus of herbaceous plants in family Orobanchaceae. It contains 12 species found in Africa and Asia, and is most abundant in India.It is named in honor of Johann Bernhard Wilhelm Lindenberg, a lawyer and bryologist from Germany....
(non-parasitic) - Macranthera (hemiparasitic)
- Magdalenaea (hemiparasitic)
- Mannagettaea (holoparasitic)
- MelampyrumMelampyrumMelampyrum is a genus of about 10-20 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
(hemiparasitic) - Melasma (hemiparasitic)
- Micrargeria (hemiparasitic)
- Micrargeriella (hemiparasitic)
- Monochasma (hemiparasitic)
- Nesogenes (hemiparasitic)
- Nothobartsia (hemiparasitic)
- Nothochilus (hemiparasitic)
- OdontitesOdontitesOdontites is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae. One of its species, the Odontites granatensis, endemic to the Sierra Nevada in Spain, was so threatened that in 1993 only 1,500 plants survived in two locations; due to conservation efforts the plant has made a comeback,...
(hemiparasitic) - Omphalotrix (hemiparasitic)
- Ophiocephalus (hemiparasitic)
- Orobanche : Broomrape (holoparasitic)
- OrthocarpusOrthocarpusOrthocarpus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae. They are native to North America. A number of species formerly included in this genus have been transferred to the genus Castilleja, of the Indian Paintbrush named plants....
(hemiparasitic) - Parastriga (hemiparasitic)
- ParentucelliaParentucelliaParentucellia is a small genus of flowering plants in the broomrape family containing about four species. They are known generally as glandweeds. The genus was named for Pope Nicholas V, whose surname was Parentucelli.Species include:...
(hemiparasitic) - Pedicularis (hemiparasitic)
- Petitmenginia (hemiparasitic)
- Phacellanthus (holoparasitic)
- Phelypaea (holoparasitic)
- Phtheirospermum (hemiparasitic)
- Physocalyx (hemiparasitic)
- Platypholis (holoparasitic)
- Pseudobartsia (hemiparasitic)
- Pseudomelasma (hemiparasitic)
- Pseudosopubia (hemiparasitic)
- Pseudostriga (hemiparasitic)
- Pterygiella (hemiparasitic)
- Radamaea (hemiparasitic)
- RehmanniaRehmanniaRehmannia is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales, endemic to China.The genus was included in the family Scrophulariaceae or Gesneriaceae in some older classifications. The current placement of the genus is in neither Scrophulariaceae s.s. nor Plantaginaceae s.l....
(non-parasitic) - Rhamphicarpa (hemiparasitic)
- Rhaphispermum (hemiparasitic)
- RhinanthusRhinanthusRhinanthus is a genus of annual hemiparasitic herbs in the family Orobanchaceae, formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae. The genus consists of about 30-40 species found in Europe, northern Asia, and North America, with the greatest species diversity in Europe.Selected...
(hemiparasitic) - Rhynchocorys (hemiparasitic)
- Schwalbea (hemiparasitic)
- Seymeria (hemiparasitic)
- Sieversandreas (hemiparasitic)
- Silviella (hemiparasitic)
- Siphonostegia (hemiparasitic)
- Sopubia (hemiparasitic)
- Spirostegia (hemiparasitic)
- StrigaStriga (plant)Striga, commonly known as witches weed, is a genus of 28 species of parasitic plants that occur naturally in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Witchweeds are characterized by bright-green stems and leaves and small, brightly colored flowers. Furthermore, they are obligate parasites of roots...
(hemiparasitic) - Tetraspidium (hemiparasitic)
- Thunbergianthus (hemiparasitic)
- Tienmuia (holoparasitic)
- Tozzia (hemiparasitic)
- Triaenophora (non-parasitic)
- TriphysariaTriphysariaTriphysaria is a genus of five plants in the broomrape family which are known generally as owl's clovers. This genus is closely related to the genera Castilleja and Orthocarpus...
(hemiparasitic) - Vellosiella (hemiparasitic)
- Xizangia (hemiparasitic)
- XylocalyxXylocalyxXylocalyx is a genus of plant in family Scrophulariaceae. It contains the following species :* Xylocalyx aculeolatus, S.Carter* Xylocalyx asper, Balf.f....
(hemiparasitic)