A genus that I had never heard of before I came to Australia is Cassytha. As a twining, fully parasitic plant that has lost leaves and roots, it represents a remarkable case of convergent evolution with the dodder genus Cuscuta. Whereas the former is a member of the Lauraceae and as such of a very early diverging ("basal") lineage of flowering plants, the latter is deeply nested within the Asterid clade of the Eudicots. Shown here is fruiting Cassytha glabella, observed at Jervis Bay a few days ago. It appears to be parasitising on a member of the heath family Ericaceae.
No comments:
Post a Comment