|
This page is based on the 1993 Jepson Manual.
Please see the Jepson eFlora for up-to-date information about California vascular plants. |
| Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange |
|
TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL |
previous taxon |
next taxon
Jepson Interchange (more information) |
|
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Print edition is available from the University of California Press |
| The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press | |
| See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition |
Perennial, stem- or root-parasites lacking chlorophyll, generally monoecious or dioecious
Stem reduced to thread-like tissue underground or inside host stem
Leaf scale-like
Inflorescence: short spike or flower solitary
Flower generally unisexual, radial, fleshy; sepals 416, often fused at base; petals 0; stamens 5many, fused to style axis forming a column that is generally expanded at tip into a disk with stigmatic areas or stamens along or under margin; ovary ± inferior, chambers 1several, placentas parietal
Fruit various, generally fleshy
Seeds many, minute
Genera in family: ± 8 genera ± 50 species: worldwide, especially tropical. Poorly known taxonomically. Rafflesia species have world's largest flowers (1 m diam); Pilostyles flowers are < 2 mm diam.
Perennial, stem parasites
Stem appearing 0
Leaves reduced to bracts subtending flower
Inflorescence: flower solitary
Flower minute; sepals 45
Staminate flower: anthers many, sessile on column under margin of disk
Pistillate flower: ovary inferior, chamber 1, stigmas in ring along disk margin
Fruit: fleshy capsule
Species in genus: 20 species: tropical Am, Africa, Australia, sw Asia (especially Iran)
Etymology: (Latin: hair pillar, from the central column)
Only flowers and bracts are visible on surface of host stem.
| Native |
Flower < 2 mm, brown or maroon; bracts 47, 11.5 mm, overlapping, round or ovate; sepals like bracts; disk < 1 mm diam; stamens in ring of ± 3 rows
Ecology: UNCOMMON. Open desert scrub
Elevation: 0300 m.
Bioregional distribution: s Sonoran Desert (Riverside, San Diego, Imperial cos.)
Distribution outside California: to Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Mexico
Flowering time: Jan
Parasitic on Psorothamnus , especially P. emoryi.
| YOU CAN HELP US make sure that our distributional information is correct and current. If you know that a plant occurs in a wild, reproducing state in a Jepson bioregion NOT highlighted on the map, please contact us with that information. Please realize that we cannot incorporate range extensions without access to a voucher specimen, which should (ultimately) be deposited in an herbarium. You can send the pressed, dried collection (with complete locality information indicated) to us (e-mail us for details) or refer us to an accessioned herbarium specimen. Non-occurrence of a plant in an indicated area is difficult to document, but we will especially value your input on those types of possible errors (see automatic conversion of distribution data to maps). |
|