Apteria aphylla
| Apteria aphylla | ||||||||||||
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Apteria aphylla |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Apteria | ||||||||||||
| Nutt. | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Apteria aphylla | ||||||||||||
| ( Nutt. ) Barnhart ex Small |
Apteria aphylla is a mykoheterotrophic , leaf-green-free plant species and the only species of its genus fromthe Burmanniaceae family .
description
Apteria aphylla is an upright, herbaceous, occasionally branched species. It usually reaches heights of between 5 and 28 centimeters, rarely up to 70 centimeters.
It no longer carries out photosynthesis , but lives mycoheterotrophically on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi , so it is completely dependent on the fungi for its nutrition.
The rhizomes are composed of 1 to 2.5 millimeters long, 0.3 to 0.8 millimeters wide and ovoid-triangular scale sheets. The thread-like inflorescence axes are purple to rarely white, as are the narrow-egg-shaped to egg-shaped, pointed leaves that are 0.5 to 5.2 millimeters long and 1 to 2 millimeters wide. The bracts are similar, but smaller in all dimensions.
The thread-like flower stalks reach a length of up to 20 millimeters, the few flowers are far apart. The flower tube is 4 to 16 millimeters long, the bracts narrowly ovate to narrowly elongated-round, 1.2 to 5.3 millimeters long, purple to rarely white, the throat striped. The petals are yellow and set 2 to 4.5 millimeters below the base of the inner bracts. The style is 2.4 to 4.5 millimeters long, the capsule fruits are broadly elliptical, 2.6 to 5.2 millimeters long and 1.7 to 4 millimeters wide and contain numerous brownish, ellipsoidal seeds that are 0.3 to 0 , 4 millimeters long.
distribution
Apteria aphylla is found in the south and southeast of the USA, from the West Indies to Central America to South America (Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina). It grows in deeply shaded areas of damp forests on rotting leaves and wood in cushions made of bear moss or moss at altitudes from sea level to around 2000 meters.
literature
- PJM Maas, H. Maas-van de Kamer, J. van Bentham, HCM Snelders, T. Rübsamen: Burmanniaceae . Flora Neotropica, Monogr., Vol. 42, 1986, pp. 1-189.
- MT Strong, P. Acevedo-Rodríguez: Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands . Contr. US Natl. Herb., Vol. 52, 2005, p. 93 ( PDF Online ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Apteria. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved June 23, 2018.