Pilostyles

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]

Pilostyles
A cluster of Pilostyles hamiltonii flowers growing out of a Daviesia stem
Scientific classification Edit this 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

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]

Species include:[1]

  • Pilostyles aethiopica Welw.
  • Pilostyles berteroi Guill.
  • Pilostyles blanchetii (Gardner) R.Br.
  • Pilostyles boyacensis F.Gonzáles & Pabón-Mora
  • Pilostyles coccoidea K.R.Thiele
  • Pilostyles collina Dell
  • Pilostyles hamiltonii C.A.Gardner
  • Pilostyles haussknechtii Boiss.
  • Pilostyles maya P.Ortega, Gonz.-Martínez & S.Vásquez
  • Pilostyles mexicana (Brandegee) Rose
  • Pilostyles thurberi A.Gray

The genus was formerly considered a member of Rafflesiaceae, and was re-classified after new DNA evidence[9][8]

References
  1. "Pilostyles Guill. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  2. Gomes, 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.
  3. USDA Plants Profile: Pilostyles
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. McComb, Jen (2018-08-13). "The mysterious Pilostyles is a plant within a plant". Murdoch University. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  7. Armstrong, W. Southern California's Most Unusual Wildflower
  8. Filipowicz, 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.
  9. Stevens, P.F. "Apodanthaceae". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
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