Parasitic herbs with extensively twining thread-like, yellowish stems, adhering to their hosts by uniseriate haustoria; some chlorophyll present
Leaves alternate, minute and scale-like
Inflorescences usually spicate or racemose, rarely with an additional order of branching, rarely condensed to a head
Flowers bisexual, 3-merous, bracteolate, sessile or pedicellate, sometimes dimorphic, small
Perianth: tube (receptacle) short, at first shallow, after anthesis becoming deeply urceolate
Tepals in 2 rows of 3, extremely unequal, the outer ones (sepaloid) much smaller, resembling bracts usually subtending flower
Stamens (6-)9, fertile, those of first and second whorls without glands and with introrse 2-thecous anthers or second whorl reduced to staminodes; third whorl with subsessile glands on each side at base of filaments and anthers extrorse; a fourth whorl of subsessile or stipitate staminodes present
Fruit subglobose, tightly enclosed in an accrescent perianth tube, forming a false drupe, often crowned by a persistent tepals
Seed subglobose; testa thin; endocarp woody
x = 12 (polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Cassytha L.
Linnaeus: 35 (1753)
Linnaeus: 22 (1754)
Jussieu: 143 (1789)
Brown: 403 (1810)
Reichenbach: 87 (1828)
Dumortier: 16 (1829)
Nees: 69 (1831)
Lindley: 202 (1836)
Nees: 27 (1836)
Endlicher: 323 (1837)
Meisner: 252 (1864)
Bentham: 164 (1880)
Pax: 124 (1889)
Stapf: 188 (1909)
Stapf: 500 (1912)
Friedrich-Holzhammer: 1 (1968)
Weber: 187 (1981)
Van der Werff: 384 (1991)
Rohwer: 386 (1993)
Verdcourt: 14 (1996)
Diniz: 46 (1997)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 17, 14 in Australia and 3 in Africa
Southern Africa: Cassytha filiformis L., a very variable species, is pantropical and very widespread
1 or 2 further species may occur in Namibia, Botswana, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Western and Eastern Cape
References:
BENTHAM, G. 1880. Laurineae. In G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker, Genera plantarum 3,1. Lovell Reeve & Co., London
BROWN, R. 1810. Laurinae Vent. Prodromus florae novae Hollandiae et Insulae van-Diemen 1. J. Johnson & Co., London
DINIZ, M.A. 1997. Lauraceae. Flora zambesiaca 9,2
DUMORTIER, B.C.J. 1829. Laurineae. Analyse des familles des plantes. Casterman, Tournay
ENDLICHER, S.L. 1837. Laurinae. Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita. Beck, Vienna
FRIEDRICH-HOLZHAMMER, M. 1968. Lauraceae. Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika 35
JUSSIEU, A.L. DE. 1789. Lauri, les Lauriers. Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita. Herissant & Barrois, Paris
LINDLEY, J. 1836. Lauraceae. A natural system of botany, edn 2. Longmans, London
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
LINNAEUS, C. 1754. Genera plantarum, edn 5. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
MEISNER, C.F. 1864. Lauraceae. In A. de Candolle, Prodromus 15. Masson & Sons, Paris
NEES von ESENBECK, C.G.D. 1831. Laurineae Indiae orientalis. In N. Wallich, Plantae asiaticae rariores 2. Treuttel & Würtz, London, Paris, Strasburgh
NEES von ESENBECK, C.G.D. 1836. Systema laurinarum. Veit, Berlin
PAX, F. 1889. Lauraceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien III, 2
REICHENBACH, H.G.L. 1828. Laureae. Conspectus regni vegetabilis. C. Cnobloch, Leipzig
ROHWER, J.G. 1993. Lauraceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
STAPF, O. 1909. Laurineae. Flora of tropical Africa 6,1
STAPF, O. 1912. Laurineae. Flora capensis 5,1
VAN DER WERFF, H. 1991. A key to the genera of Lauraceae in the New World. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78
VERDCOURT, B. 1996. Flora of tropical East Africa. Lauraceae
WEBER, J.Z. 1981. A taxonomic revision of Cassytha (Lauraceae) in Australia. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 3
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