Tristerix
| Tristerix | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tristerix corymbosus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Core eudicots |
| Order: | Santalales |
| Family: | Loranthaceae |
| Genus: | Tristerix Mart. |
| Species | |
| |
Tristerix is a genus of mistletoe in the family Loranthaceae, native to the Andes from Colombia to Chile. They are a woody perennial usually occurring as an aerial parasite, often pollinated by hummingbirds. Recents phylogenetic studies of the 11 known Tristerix species divides the genus into 2 subgenera; Metastachys and Tristerix with 9 and 2 species, respectively (though this was not confirmed by ITS analysis).
The species T. aphyllus is a parasite of cacti in Chile. It is only known to grow on two species of columnar cacti: Echinopsis chilensis and Eulychnia acida. T. aphyllus is sometimes called the "cactus mistletoe." It should not be confused with the mistletoe cactus, which is an epiphytic cactus, and not a parasite.
flower detail
References
- Guillermo C Amico and Daniel L Nickrent (2009). "Population structure and phylogeography of the mistletoes Tristerix corymbosus and T. aphyllus (Loranthaceae) using chloroplast DNA sequence variation", American Journal of Botany 96:1571-1580. doi:10.3732/ajb.0800302
- Romina Vidal-Russell and Daniel L. Nickrent (2007). "The biogeographic history of Loranthaceae", DARWINIANA 45(suplemento) 34-54.
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