A cluster of Pilostyles hamiltonii flowers growing out of a Daviesia stem
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Clade:
Tracheophytes
Clade:
Angiosperms
Clade:
Eudicots
Clade:
Rosids
Order:
Cucurbitales
Family:
Apodanthaceae
Genus:
Pilostyles Guill.
Species
See text
Synonyms
Berlinianche (Harms) Vattimo-Gil
Pilostyles is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apodanthaceae. It includes about 11 species of very small, completely parasitic plants that live inside the stems of woody legumes.[1][2] Plants of this genus are sometimes referred to as stemsuckers.[3]
The plants completely lack stems, roots, leaves, and chlorophyll. While not flowering, they do not resemble most plants, living entirely inside the host as " [...] a mycelium-like endophyte formed by strands of parenchyma cells that are in close contact to the host vasculature".[4] Their presence is only noticeable when the flowers emerge out of the stems of the host plant.[2]
Pilostyles is dioecious, with separate male and female plants.[5] Male and female plants are not commonly known to inhabit the same host.[6] Flowers are two or three millimeters wide and in some species each female flower can produce over 100 seeds, which are less than 1mm long.[7][6]
Species are found in several countries, with a discontinuous distribution: species have been found in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, and Australia.[8]
The genus was formerly considered a member of Rafflesiaceae, and was re-classified after new DNA evidence[9][8]
^ ab"Pilostyles Guill. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
^ abGomes, André Luis; Fernandes, G. Wilson (1994-09-01). "Influence of Parasitism by Pilostyles ingae (Rafflesiaceae) on its Host Plant, Mimosa naguirei (Leguminosae)". Annals of Botany. 74 (3): 205–208. doi:10.1006/anbo.1994.1110.
^USDA Plants Profile: Pilostyles
^González, Angie D.; Pabón-Mora, Natalia; Alzate, Juan F.; González, Favio (2020). "Meristem Genes in the Highly Reduced Endoparasitic Pilostyles boyacensis (Apodanthaceae)". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 8. doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.00209. ISSN 2296-701X.
^Fernandes, G. W.; De Mattos, E. A.; Franco, A. C.; Lüttge, U.; Ziegler, H. (1998). "Influence of the Parasite Pilostyles ingae (Rafflesiaceae) on some Physiological Parameters of the Host Plant, Mimosa naguirei (Mimosaceae)". Botanica Acta. 111: 51–54. doi:10.1111/j.1438-8677.1998.tb00676.x.
^ abMcComb, Jen (2018-08-13). "The mysterious Pilostyles is a plant within a plant". Murdoch University. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
^Armstrong, W. Southern California's Most Unusual Wildflower
^ abFilipowicz, Natalia; Renner, Susanne S (2010-07-21). "The worldwide holoparasitic Apodanthaceae confidently placed in the Cucurbitales by nuclear and mitochondrial gene trees". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 10: 219. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-219. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 3055242. PMID 20663122.
^Stevens, P.F. "Apodanthaceae". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
Pilostyles thurberi is a species of endoparasitic flowering plant known by the common names Thurber's stemsucker and Thurber's pilostyles. It is native...
photosynthesis (that is, they are holoparasitic). There are two genera: Pilostyles and Apodanthes. A third genus, Berlinianche, was never validly published...
(Bdallophyton and Cytinus) and Apodantheae (Apodanthes, Berlinianche, and Pilostyles). Nickrent et al. (2004) showed Cytineae was related to Malvales and Apodantheae...
(December 2015). "The Plastomes of Two Species in the Endoparasite Genus Pilostyles (Apodanthaceae) Each Retain Just Five or Six Possibly Functional Genes"...
L. Nickrent. 2014. Floral scent and pollinators of the holoparasite Pilostyles thurberi (Apodanthaceae). Journal of Pollination Ecology 12: 31–39. Amico...
species of endoparasitic herbs. These are distributed into three genera: Pilostyles, Apodanthes, and Berlinianche. Attempts to determine the relationships...