genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
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.
...
in the
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 ...
Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are ''Nuytsia floribunda'' (the W ...
, native to the
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
, ranging from
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
s, are pollinated by hummingbirds and flowerpiercers, with seed-dispersal generally by birds but occasionally by mammals (''
Dromiciops
The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, ''Dromiciops gliroides'', also called ''chumaihuén'' in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America (Argentina and Chile). It is the only extant species in the ancient ...
''). The genus is distinguished from other
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
inflorescences
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
, together with its of 4- or 5-
merous Merosity (from the greek "méros," which means "having parts") refers to the number of component parts in a distinct whorl of a plant structure. The term is most commonly used in the context of a flower where it refers to the number of sepals in a ...
endosperm
The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...
. Further differences include fused
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 ...
Martius
Martius may refer to:
* Martius (month) the month of March on the ancient Roman calendar
* Campus Martius, the "Field of Mars" in ancient Rome
* Telo Martius, an ancient name for Toulon, France
People
* Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1 ...
, who published three species: ''T. viridiflorus'' (now ''
Macrosolen viridiflorus
''Macrosolen'' is a genus of plants in the family Loranthaceae. It includes about 83 species all over the world with ca. 40 species widely distributed in tropical South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. Some species were described by de Loureiro ( ...
Eichler Several people are named Eichler:
* August W. Eichler (1839–1887), German botanist
* Caroline Eichler (1808/9–1843), German inventor, first woman to be awarded a patent (for her leg prosthesis)
* Eunice Eichler (1932–2017), New Zealand Salva ...
placed ''Loranthus aphyllus'' and ''L. tetrandrus'' in the genus '' Phrygillanthus''. However, in 1973, Barlow & Wiens recognised these two ''Phrygilanthus'' species as ''
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 ...
'' and '' T. corymbosus'', respectively, returning ''Tristerix'' to use.
Martius described the genus as having three bracts. However, this characteristic applies to only two species of the genus ('' T. aphyllus'' and '' T. corymbosus''). In these, two bracteoles inside a primary bract lie below the ovary. The other members of the genus have no bracteoles.Van Tieghem (1895) divided the genus into two subgenera; those species without bracteoles - ''Metastachys'' (with 9 species), and those with bracteoles - ''Tristerix'' (with 2 species - '' T. aphyllus'' and '' T. corymbosus''). This division is accepted by Kuijt.
A phylogenetic study of 10 ''Tristerix''
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
by Amico ''et al.'' (2007) found evidence for three groupings. A simplified consensus cladogram of their conclusions, from analyses which used two different character sets and three methods (maximum likelihood, minimum parsimony, and Bayesian inference) for finding the tree, is given below. Note that the grouping of the ''Tristerix'' species with bracteoles remains.
See