Plant Image Collection

setSC-Hydnora_africana-1Actions

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setSC-Hydnora_africana-1
Title
<em>Hydnora africana</em> and host <em>Euphorbia caput-medusae</em>
Author
Sherwin Carlquist Santa Barbara California USA
Keywords
Hydnora africana
Description
Hydnora africana
At first glace, this appears to be a picture of a green succulent, Euphorbia caput-medusae, viewed from above the plant--and it is. But next to the gray stone near the bottom of the photo is a brown flower. It belongs to a root parasite, Hydnora africana, which lives on the Euphorbia. Hydnora, from Africa, belongs to a family, Hydnoraceae that also includes a New World genus, Prosopanche. The relationships of this family were quite uncertain, but recent molecular data suggest that Hydnoraceae is a "basal angiosperm," among the more primitive of flowering plants. Parasites are often so highly modified, compared to their non-parasitic relatives, that their relationships are difficult to determine.

Return to the Hydnora africana page or the Parasitic Plant Index.
Publisher
Botanical Society of America
Additional data
copyright: Carlquist, BSA
license: http://images.botany.org/index.html#license
Collection
Parasitic Plants Quick view
Botanical Name
<em>Hydnora africana</em>
Categories
  • Image
  • Not a cover image

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