Balanophoraceae

The Balanophoraceae are a family of perennial herbs, parasitic on the roots of other plants, with complete loss of chlorophyll. Stems thick and fleshy, colored. Squamiform leaves. Small, unisexual, monochlamyd or achlamyd flowers; gathered in dense inflorescences. Nutula or drupe fruits. About 110 species, almost exclusively tropical.

Description

They are herbaceous plants, parasitic in roots, yellowish, reddish or brown, lacking chlorophyll, arising from tuberous or rhizomatous underground structures, which are in contact with the root of the host; monoecious or dioecious. Scaly leaves, large and numerous or small and inconspicuous. Spatiform inflorescences, apparently unbranched, scaly bracts, peltate and generally hexagonal or very reduced, inconspicuous to absent, actinomorphic, 3-mer, monocyclic flowers; stamens with anthers united to form a synander; stigmas 1 or 2. Fruit a small achene with 1 embryo.

Taxonomy

The family was described by Rich. and A.Rich. and published in Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle 8: 429. 1822. The type genus is: Balanophora.

Genres