''Lacandonia schismatica'' is a species of
mycoheterotrophic plant in the
Triuridaceae (although some taxonomists place the genus in a separate family; the Lacandonaceae.). It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to
Lacandon Jungle in the State of
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil and Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 124 municipalities ...
in southern
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
. It is known from very few populations and is considered endangered by the researchers who investigate this species. It, and its recently discovered relation Lacandonia braziliana, are the only known flowering plants which in its natural population has a spatial inversion of the reproductive floral whorls (ie stamens and carpels): the 2 to 4 stamens are positioned centrally within the flower, and the 60 to 80 carpels arranged in a ring around them.
Perhaps even more remarkable than the reversed positions of male and female parts is the unique mode of pollination. The pollin grain never leaves the anther, but sends the pollin tube backwards through the length of the stamen, across the receptacle and then into the pistil from below.
''Lacandonia schismatica'' is known from several small populations at altitudes around in the
Lacandon Jungle. It grows in shady sites within this rainforest. Gerrit Davidse and Esteban Martínez noted in 1990 how the plants are "extremely localized and highly endangered" due to encroaching habitat conversion to cattle pasture. They also explain that the species is difficult to cultivate and therefore they encourage other scientists to study this unique organism's biology before it can no longer be found in the wild.
[Márquez-Guzmán, J., Vázquez-Santana, S., Engleman, E. M., Martínez-Mena, A., and Martínez, E. (1993). Pollen development and fertilization in ''Lacandonia schismatica'' (Lacandoniaceae). '']Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
The ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' is a long-established major peer-reviewed journal of botany, established in 1914 by the Missouri Botanical Garden, under the directorship of botanist and phycologist, George Thomas Moore, and still p ...
'', 80(4): 891-897.[Davidse, G. and Martínez, E. (1990). The chromosome number of ''Lacandonia schismatica'' (Lacandoniaceae). ''Systematic Botany'', 15(4): 635-637.][Francisco Vergara-Silva, Silvia Espinosa-Matías, Barbara A. Ambrose, Sonia Vázquez-Santana, Alejandro Martínez-Mena, Judith Márquez-Guzmán, Esteban Martínez, Elliot M. Meyerowitz, and Elena R. Alvarez-Buylla. (2003). Inside-out flowers characteristic of ''Lacandonia schismatica'' evolved at least before its divergence from a closely related taxon, ''Triuris brevistylis''. ''International Journal of Plant Sciences'', 164(3): 345-357.]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5231520
Flora of Chiapas
Parasitic plants
Plants described in 1989
Triuridaceae