Pilostyles

Pilostyles is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the family Apodanthaceae. It was formerly placed in the Rafflesiaceae.[1] It includes several species of parasitic plants that live inside the stems of other plants and produce tiny flowers that burst through the surface of the host plants' tissue. Plants of this genus are sometimes referred to as stemsuckers.[2]

Pilostyles
A cluster of Pilostyles hamiltonii, a member of the genus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Apodanthaceae
Genus: Pilostyles
Guill.
Species

See text

Pilostyles are specialized parasites of woody-stemmed legumes.[3] There are about 20 species.[4] They are perennial herbs that lack roots and chlorophyll, as they obtain water and nutrients from their hosts.[3] The plants themselves are only a few millimeters wide and live within the host plant tissue, becoming externally visible only when the flowers emerge.[3] The flowers are two or three millimeters wide and in some species each female flower can produce over 100 seeds, which are minute.[4]

Species include:

  • Pilostyles blanchetii
  • Pilostyles hamiltonii
  • Pilostyles haussknechtii
  • Pilostyles ingae
  • Pilostyles stawiarskii
  • Pilostyles thurberi

References
  1. Stevens, P.F. "Apodanthaceae". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
  2. USDA Plants Profile: Pilostyles
  3. Gomes, A. L. & G. W. Fernandes. (1994). Influence of parasitism by Pilostyles ingae (Rafflesiaceae) on its host plant, Mimosa naguirei (Leguminosae). Annals of Botany 74 205-8.
  4. Armstrong, W. Southern California's Most Unusual Wildflower
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