''Cistanche'' is a worldwide genus of

holoparasitic A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

desert plants in the family

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasitic plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ''Striga'') were formerly included in the ...

. They lack

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...

and obtain nutrients and water from the host plants whose roots they parasitize. They are often known as desert hyacinths.

Taxonomy

There are between 20 and 30 species of ''Cistanche''. The most comprehensive description of the genus was published in 1930. The taxonomy is difficult because important features of the flowers are often poorly preserved after drying. The plants are found from the Mediterranean region, North Africa, Middle East through to China. The species of ''Cistanche'' are

parasitic plant A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

s that connect to the conductive system of a host, extracting water and nutrients from the roots of the host plant.

Growth

They typically grow in desert or sand dune areas Growing in arid regions, where their flower spikes that emerge from bare ground are the only evidence of the presence of the plants. They do not have leaves and do not perform photosynthesis. Some species of ''Cistanche'' are native to the

Taklimakan The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...

desert region of

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

northwest China where they grow on desert host plants

tamarix The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tam ...

and Haloxylon ammodendron.Cistanche tubulosa and deserticola: An In-Depth Analysis http://urbol.com/cistanche-tubulosa-and-deserticola/

Uses

Along with other members of the genus, ''

Cistanche deserticola ''Cistanche deserticola'' is a holoparasitic member of the plant family Orobanchaceae, commonly known as desert-broomrape. The plant lacks chlorophyll and obtains its nutrients and water in a parasitic fashion from the black saxaul (''Haloxylon ...

'' is the primary source of the

Chinese herbal medicine Chinese herbology () is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A ''Nature'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that t ...

cistanche (Chinese: 肉苁蓉,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

ròucōngróng). The main sources of cistanche are '' Cistanche salsa'' and ''Cistanche deserticola'', although it may also be obtained from '' Cistanche tubulosa'', '' Cistanche sinensis'', and '' Cistanche ambigua''. The drug, known in Chinese as ''suosuo dayun'', is collected in spring before sprouting, by slicing the stems of the plant. ''Cistanche deserticola'' has been placed on

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

Appendix 2, a list of endangered species not banned from trade but requiring monitoring. With increased consumption of cistanche, the population of the species has decreased and its area of distribution has shrunk. Aside from over-collection or indiscriminate collection, an important factor in the diminished supply of cistanche is a loss of the host, '' Haloxylon ammodendron'', which is widely used for firewood.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2662256 Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae genera Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine