Balanophora | |
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Balanophora fungosa subsp. indica found in northwest Thailand (Hup Patad cave) | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Santalales |
Family: | Balanophoraceae |
Genus: | Balanophora J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. |
Type species | |
Balanophora fungosa | |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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Balanophora is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Balanophoraceae found in parts of tropical and temperate Asia, including the Eastern Himalayas, [1] Malesia region, Pacific Islands, Madagascar, and tropical Africa. [2] [3] There are about 20 accepted species, [4] including the newly discovered B. coralliformis. Many species emit an odour which possibly attracts pollinators in the same way that pollinators are attracted to Rafflesia . [5]
Balanophora species are used in folk medicine in many Asian cultures. [3] For example, in Taiwan and China, Balanophora is known as she-gu (stone-fungus) and in Thailand as hoh-ra-tao-su-nak. In both cases, the plant is used to treat a variety of ailments and has various ritual purposes. The tubers of Balanophora are rich in a wax-like substance which is used in Java as a fuel for torches. [5] [6]
The genus was first described in 1775 by Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster in Characteres Generum Plantarum . [7] [8] The name is derived from the ancient Greek words balanos (βάλανος), meaning "acorn" and pherein (φέρειν), meaning "to carry". [9]
As of January 2023 [update] , the following species are accepted at Plants of the World Online: [4]
Balanophora yuwanensis, "often considered the same species as B. yakushimensis ", is thought to provide the endangered dark-furred Amami rabbit ( Pentalagus furnessi ) of the Ryukyu Archipelago with vegetative tissues as a reward for seed dispersal. Previously, it had been a mystery how seeds of B. yuwanensis were dispersed. [10] [11]
Leptospermum is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of Melaleuca. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greatest diversity in the south of the continent, but some are native to other parts of the world, including New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Leptospermums all have five conspicuous petals and five groups of stamens which alternate with the petals. There is a single style in the centre of the flower and the fruit is a woody capsule.
Aleurites is a small genus of arborescent flowering plants in the Euphorbiaceae, first described as a genus in 1776. It is native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Papuasia, and Queensland. It is also reportedly naturalized on various islands as well as scattered locations in Africa, South America, and Florida.
Elaeocarpus is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus Elaeocarpus are trees or shrubs with simple leaves, flowers with four or five petals usually, and usually blue fruit.
Schefflera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae with 13 species native to New Zealand and some Pacific islands.
Acronychia is a genus of about fifty species of plants in the rue family Rutaceae. The leaves are simple or pinnate, and the flowers bisexual with four sepals, four petals and eight stamens. They have a broad distribution including in India, Malesia, Australia and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. About twenty species are endemic to Australia.
Commersonia is a genus of twenty-five species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. Plants in this genus are shrubs or trees, occurring from Indochina to Australia and have stems, leaves and flowers covered with star-like hairs. The leaves are simple, often with irregularly-toothed edges, the flowers bisexual with five sepals, five petals and five stamens and the fruit a capsule with five valves. The genus underwent a revision in 2011 and some species were separated from Commersonia, others were added from Rulingia.
Ripogonum is a genus of flowering plants confined to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea. Until recently this genus was included in the family Smilacaceae, and earlier in the family Liliaceae, but it has now been separated as its own family Ripogonaceae.
Banksia baxteri, commonly known as Baxter's banksia or bird's nest banksia, is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has greyish brown bark, hairy stems, deeply serrated leaves with triangular lobes and lemon-yellow flowers in an oval flower spike that grows on the end of branches.
Pladaroxylon is a genus of trees in the tribe Senecioneae within the family Asteraceae.
Barringtonia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lecythidaceae first described as a genus with this name in 1775. It is native to Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The genus name commemorates Daines Barrington.
Adenostemma is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae described as a genus in 1775. It is widespread in tropical regions of Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands.
Hedycarya is a genus of about 16 species of flowering plants in the family Monimiaceae native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands. Plants in the genus Hedycarya are shrubs, or small to medium trees with sometimes toothed leaves. The male and female flowers cup-shaped and are borne on separate plants. Male flowers usually have 8 tepals and many stamens and female flowers are have 6 to 12 tepals with many carpels. The fruit is a cluster of drupes.
Dichondra repens, commonly known as kidney weed, Mercury Bay weed, tom thumb, or yilibili in the Dharawal language, is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae and is native to Australia, New Zealand, and the Indian Ocean islands, Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues. It is a perennial, herb with kidney-shaped to round leaves and small, greenish-yellow, star-shaped flowers.
Acronychia laevis, commonly known as hard aspen, glossy acronychia or northern white lilly pilly, is a species of shrub or small tree in the citrus family, and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has simple, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves, groups of creamy white flowers and fleshy, mitre-shaped to spherical fruit.
Codia is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Cunoniaceae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia in the Pacific and contains 15 species. The leaves are opposite or whorled, simple, and the margin usually entire. The flowers are arranged in capitula. the ovary is inferior. The fruit is indehiscent and is covered with woolly hairs.
Balanophora fungosa, sometimes known as fungus root is a flowering plant in the family Balanophoraceae and occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and some Pacific Islands. It is an obligate parasite growing on the roots of rainforest trees. The flowering structure is shaped like a puffball but in fact consists of a globe covered with thousands of tiny female flowers. The globe is surrounded at its base by a much smaller number of male flowers. In flower, the plant emits an odour resembling that of mice.
Balanophora coralliformis, sometimes known as coral plant, is a flowering plant in the family Balanophoraceae and is known only from Mount Mingan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Like others in its genus, it is an obligate parasite growing on the roots of rainforest trees, but differs in that its tuber appears above ground and has an elongated, repeatedly branched, coral-like structure. It was first described in 2014 and is known from fewer than 50 plants, but has not as yet been declared endangered.
Zanthoxylum pinnatum, commonly known as yellow wood, is a species of flowering plant of the family Rutaceae native to Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. It is a tree with pinnate leaves, white male and female flowers arranged in groups in leaf axils, and spherical, purple follicles containing a single black seed.
Sapindoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It includes a number of fruit trees, including lychees, longans, rambutans, and quenepas.
Characteres generum plantarum is a 1775/1776 book by Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster about the botanical discoveries they made during the second voyage of James Cook.