''Apodanthes'' is a genus of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s in the family
Apodanthaceae
The family Apodanthaceae comprises about 10 species of endoparasitic herbs. They live in the branches or stems of their hosts (as filaments similar to a fungal mycelium), emerging only to flower and fruit. The plants produce no green parts and do ...
. It has only one currently accepted species, ''Apodanthes caseariae'', native to Central America and northern South America.
It is a
holoparasite
An obligate parasite or holoparasite is a parasitic organism that cannot complete its life-cycle without exploiting a suitable host. If an obligate parasite cannot obtain a host it will fail to reproduce. This is opposed to a facultative parasite, ...
that lives inside plants from the families
Salicaceae
The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...
and
, and emerges only to flower.
References
Monotypic Cucurbitales genera
Apodanthaceae
Parasitic plants
Flora of Central America
Flora of northern South America
Flora of western South America
Flora of Brazil
Plants described in 1896
{{Cucurbitales-stub