Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of

woody plant A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until sp ...

s, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are ''

Nuytsia floribunda ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' (the Western Australian Christmas tree), ''

Atkinsonia ligustrina ''Atkinsonia'' is a hemi-parasitic shrub with oppositely set, entire leaves and yellowish, later rusty-red colored flowers, that is found in Eastern Australia. It is a monotypic genus, the only species being ''Atkinsonia ligustrina'', and is as ...

'' (from the Blue Mountains of Australia), and ''

Gaiadendron punctatum ''Gaiadendron'' is a genus of parasitic shrubs or trees in the family Loranthaceae. It solely comprises the species ''Gaiadendron punctatum,'' which is found in North and South America South America is a continent entirely in the Wester ...

'' (from Central/South America.) Loranthaceae are primarily

xylem Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from ...

parasites, but their

haustoria In botany and mycology, a haustorium (plural haustoria) is a rootlike structure that grows into or around another structure to absorb water or nutrients. For example, in mistletoe or members of the broomrape family, the structure penetrates t ...

may sometimes tap the

phloem Phloem (, ) is the living biological tissue, tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This tran ...

, while ''

Tristerix aphyllus ''Tristerix aphyllus'' is a holoparasitic plant species of the genus ''Tristerix'' in the family Loranthaceae. It is endemic to Chile. '' T. aphyllus'' is sometimes called the "cactus mistletoe." It should not be confused with the mistletoe cact ...

'' is almost

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 ...

. For a more complete description of the Australian Loranthaceae, se
Flora of Australia online
, for the Malesian Loranthaceae se
Flora of Malesia
Originally, Loranthaceae contained all

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

species, but the mistletoes of Europe and North America (''

Viscum ''Viscum'' is a genus of about 70–100 species of mistletoes, native to temperate and tropical regions of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Traditionally, the genus has been placed in its own family Viscaceae, but recent genetic research by ...

'', ''

Arceuthobium The genus ''Arceuthobium'', commonly called dwarf mistletoes, is a genus of 26 species of parasitic plants that parasitize members of Pinaceae and Cupressaceae in North America, Central America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Of the 42 species that ...

'', and ''

Phoradendron ''Phoradendron'' is a genus of mistletoe, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Americas. The center of diversity is the Amazon rainforest.Coder, K. DAmerican mistletoe (''Phoradendron serotinum'' var. ''serotinum'') infectio ...

'') belong to the family

Santalaceae The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, and epiphytic climbersHewson & George t al.br>''Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-194.) which, like other membe ...

. The

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Gro ...

2003 assigns the family to the order

Santalales The Santalales are an order of flowering plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, but heavily concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions. It derives its name from its type genus ''Santalum'' (sandalwood). Mistletoe is the common name for a ...

in the clade

core eudicots The eudicots, Eudicotidae, or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants mainly characterized by having two seed leaves upon germination. The term derives from Dicotyledons. Traditionally they were called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots ...

Phylogeny

Molecular phylogenetics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

suggests the following relationships of tribes, subtribes and genera: ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' is sister to the rest the Loranthaceae, with many characters, including its pollen, its fruit (dry and three winged), and the number of its

cotyledons A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The numb ...

, differing substantially from all other Loranthaceae genera. The root parasitic habit is thought to be the basal condition of the family., with the stem/branch parasitic habit evolving ca. 28-40 million years ago. However, Grimsson ''et al.'' (2017) estimate this as occurring somewhat earlier (ca. 40-52 million years ago).

Genera

''Kingella'' is listed as a synonym of ''Trithecanthera'' Tiegh by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

. Also ''Ixocactus'' is listed as a synonym of ''Phthirusa'' Mart. and ''Tetradyas'' is listed as a synonym of ''Cyne'' Danser.

References

External links

*
Loranthaceae on the Parasitic Plant Connection web siteChilean Loranthaceae
at Chileflora {{Taxonbar, from=Q156691 Eudicot families

Phylogeny

Genera

See also

References

External links