Cassytha

Cassytha
	Cassytha filiformis
Systematics
Subdivision :	Seed plants (Spermatophytina)
Class :	Bedecktsamer (Magnoliopsida)
	Magnoliids
Order :	Laurels (Laurales)
Family :	Laurel family (Lauraceae)
Genre :	Cassytha
Scientific name
	Cassytha
	Osbeck

Cassytha also in German catch thread called, is a genus within the family of the laurel family (Lauraceae). In the species-rich family of the Lauraceae there is no other genus with parasitic plant species. The genus Cassytha includes around 17 parasitic climber species thatparasitizeon woody or herbaceous plants. Their main distribution area is in Australia , only a few species occur in Africa and Asia and only the widespread species Cassytha filiformis also occurs in the New World .

Description and ecology

Cassytha pubescens with haustoria that penetrate the host plant

Illustration from Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius: Flora Brasiliensis , Volume 5, Pars 2, Plate 107 by Cassytha filiformis

Flower of Cassytha filiformis

Flower of Cassytha pubescens

Herbarium from Cassytha pubescens

Vegetative characteristics

Cassytha species are autotrophic , semi-parasites on herbaceous to woody plants. The xylem of the semi-parasite connects to the xylem of the host plant via elliptical haustoria . In terms of habit they resemble Cuscuta ( Convolvulaceae ), which is due to a convergent development. In contrast to Cassytha , however , Cuscuta is a full parasite.

Cassytha species are evergreen, perennial, herbaceous plants with climbing climbs . The parts of the plant are hairy or hairless. Depending on the season, the green or gray-brown, pencil-shaped, thread-like to string-shaped and branched stems contain chlorophyll . Essential oils give all parts of the plant an aromatic smell.

The spirally arranged leaves are reduced to tiny, yellowish-green to red-green, stem-encompassing scales that can be glabrous or hairy.

Generative characteristics

The pendant, sitting or standing on short, upright Blütenstandsschäften inflorescences are constructed differently; The flowers are seldom solitary, mostly they are arranged in spike-like or capillary, more rarely in paniculate , racemose inflorescences. There are three scale-like bracts and under each flower two bracts similar but smaller, scale-like bracts . The bracts are fused with the base of the perianth. The flowers are sessile or have a short stalk.

The relatively small, mostly hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and threefold. A durable, round-shaped, somewhat concave flower cup is formed, which tapers towards the flower stalk and continues into the inner bracts; it enlarges after fertilization until it envelops the ovary and later the fruit. There are two circles with three free bracts each. The three scale-like bracts of the outer circle are greenish-white or whitish and smaller than those of the inner circle and relatively similar to the bracts. The three bracts of the inner circle are fleshy, white to whitish. There are a total of four circles with three stamens each , with three circles usually consisting of fertile stamens. The anthers open with an operculum . The stamens of the inner circle are often transformed into staminodes. There is an ovoid gland on each side of the stamen of the third circle. The upper ovary is spherical. The short stamp ends in a head-like scar.

The blackish or red stone fruits when ripe are spherical and encased in the flower cup, which forms the succulent outer shell; Overall, this creates a "false fruit" that is spherical, berry-like and shrinks to a diameter of about 2 millimeters when it dries. This “false fruit” is crowned by the durable inner, then lignified bloom cladding sheets and the remains of the stamens in the form of a ring of glands. The fruits contain only one seed. The seeds are hard and not endosperm . The two cotyledons ( cotyledons ) are thick, fleshy and hemispherical.

Habit of Cassytha ciliolata

"False fruit" from Cassytha ciliolata

Cassytha filiformis

Cassytha glabella

“False Fruits” from Cassytha glabella

Cassytha melantha

Systematics, botanical history and distribution

Taxonomy

The genus Cassytha was 1753 Pehr Osbeck in Linnaeus : Species Plantarum , 1, page 35 placed . Linnaeus published in 1754 the genus Cassytha in Genera plantarum , 5th edition, page 22. The generic name Cassytha derives from the Greek name kasytas for species of the genus Cuscuta from. Type species is Cassytha filiformis L. Homonyms for Cassytha Osbeck are: Cassytha Mill. (Published in The Gardeners Dictionary: eighth edition 1768) and Cassytha Gray (published in A Natural Arrangement of British Plants 2, 1821, page 345). Cassytha Gray is a synonym of Cuscuta L. The genus described under the name Cassytha Mill. 1768 does not include the Cassytha Osbeck described here , but is a synonym of the cactus genus Rhipsalis Gaertn. A synonym for Cassytha Osbeck is Cassyta L. orth. Var.

External system

John Lindley ordered 1833 in Nixus Plantarum , page 112, the genus Cassytha in its processing of order Laurales in Cassytheae one and ordered this genre in A peculiar order with general structure of Lauraceae. In: Nat. Syst. Bot. , 2nd edition, 1836, page 202 into the Cassythaceae family. In 1841 CDF Meisner placed the genus Cassytha in Plantarum Vascularium Genera: secundum ordines naturales ... (p. 324 Tab. Diagn. And p. 237 Commentarius) the tribe Cassytheae with twelve further tribes and 31 genera in the family Lauraceae. This view was shared by CG Nees von Esenbeck in Syst. Laur. , 1836; DFLSchlechtendal in Linnaea , Volume 20, 1847, p. 577; G. Bentham and JD Hooker in Gen. Pl. , 1880; AJGH Kostermans in Lauraceae , Forest Research Institute, Indonesia, 57, 1957, pp. 1-59; Weber 1981. There is a revision of the genus Cassytha : JL Weber: A taxonomic revision of Cassytha (Lauraceae) in Australia. In: Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens , Volume 3, Issue 3, 1981, pages 187-262; there are 14 species listed for Australia.

Some authors put the genus Cassytha in their own Cassythaceae Lindl family . nom. cons .. According to molecular genetic data , Cassytha is the only genus of the Tribe Cassytheae Dumort.

Species and their distribution

Almost all Cassytha species occur only in Australia (14 to 16 endemic species and 3 others), only a few species occur in tropical to southern Africa (three species), in New Zealand, in the Neotropic and in Asia. Only one species is found almost worldwide in tropical areas. One species extends to Malaysia, one occurs in New Zealand and two species occur in New Guinea. Cassytha species thrive in the subtropics to the tropics .

The genus Cassytha includes 17 to 23 species:

Cassytha aurea J.Z.Weber : There are two varieties only in the Australian state of Western Australia :
- Cassytha aurea J.Z.Weber var. Aurea
- Cassytha aurea var. Hirta J.Z.Weber
Cassytha candida (JZWeber) JZWeber (Syn .: Cassytha aurea var. Candida J.Z.Weber ): It occurs in Western Australia and the Northern Territory .
Cassytha capillaris Meisn. (Syn .: Cassytha strigosa W. Fitzg. , Cassytha tenuis C.K.Allen , Cassytha glabella auct. Non R.Br. ): It occurs in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Cassytha ciliolata Nees : It occurs in many localities in the South African provinces of the Eastern , Northern and Western Cape . The occurrences are considered stable.
Cassytha filiformis L. (Syn .: Cassytha cuscutiformis Meisn. Nom. Inval., Cassytha melantha auct. Non R.Br. , Cassytha filiformis var. Pseudopubescens Domin ): It is in tropical Africa in Chad , in Somalia , Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda , Cameroon , Central African Republic , Republic of the Congo , Gabon , Benin , Ivory Coast , Ghana , Guinea , Liberia , Nigeria , Senegal , Sierra Leone , Togo , Angola , Malawi , Mozambique , Zambia as well as Zimbabwe and Madagascar , Mauritius as well as Réunion and in the Chinese provinces of Fujian , Guangdong , Guangxi , Guizhou , Hunan , Jiangxi , Yunnan , Zhejiang , as well as Hainan and in Taiwan and on the Japanese islands Kyushu and Ryukyu islands, in Singapore and in India , Sri Lanka and Myanmar and in the Australian New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory and in the New World in southern Florida and from the southern Mexican states of Campeche , Chiapas , Quintana Roo , Tabasco sow ie Yucatán to the Central American countries of Belize , Guatemala , Costa Rica , Honduras , Nicaragua and Panama and Caribbean islands Anguilla , Antigua and Barbuda , Bahamas , Barbados , Cayman Islands , Cuba , Grenada , Hispaniola , Jamaica , Martinique , St. Lucia , St. Vincent and the Grenadines , Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands and in tropical South America in French Guiana , Guyana , Suriname , Venezuela and Brazil . In some other tropical areas it is a neophyte . It is also called thread-like wicker.
Cassytha flava Nees : It occurs only in the Australian state of Western Australia.
Cassytha flindersii (JZWeber) JZWeber (Syn .: Cassytha peninsularis var. Flindersii J.Z.Weber ): It occurs only in the Australian state of South Australia.
Cassytha glabella R.Br. (Syn .: Cassyta glabella F.Muell. Orth. Var., Cassytha micrantha Meisn. , Cassytha microcephala Meisn. ): It occurs in New South Wales , South Australia , Queensland , Victoria , Western Australia and Tasmania and maybe in the Japanese island Okinawa before.
Cassytha melantha R.Br. : It occurs in Australian New South Wales , South Australia , Victoria , Western Australia and Tasmania .
Cassytha micrantha Meisn. : It occurs only in the Australian state of Western Australia.
Cassytha nodiflora Meisn. : It occurs only in the Australian state of Western Australia.
Cassytha paniculata R.Br. : It occurs in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales and in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand .
Cassytha pedicellosa J.Z.Weber : It occurs only in Tasmania, Australia.
Cassytha peninsularis J.Z.Weber (Syn .: Cassytha peninsularis J.Z.Weber var. Peninsularis ): It occurs only in the Australian state of South Australia.
Cassytha phaeolasia (F. Muell.) Benth. (Syn .: Cassytha paniculata var. Phaeolasia F. Muell. ): It occurs in the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria.
Cassytha pomiformis Nees (Syn .: Cassyta pomiformis Nees orth. Var., Cassytha multiflora Nees , Cassyta multiflora Nees orth. Var., Cassytha ceratopoda Meisn. , Cassytha subcapitata Meisn. , Cassytha pomiformis Nees var. Pomiformis , Cassytha pomiformis var. Pubiflora Benth . ): It occurs only in the Australian state of Western Australia.
Cassytha pondoensis Engl .: It thrives in coastal areas of southern Africa from Tanzania to Mozambique and Malawi and in the South African provinces of Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal .
Cassytha pubescens R.Br. (Syn .: Cassyta pubescens Schltdl. Orth. Var., Cassytha pubescens Schltdl. Nom. Illeg., Cassytha piligera Schltdl. Nom. Inval., Nom. Prov., Cassytha rugulosa Meisn. , Cassytha tasmanica Meisn. , Cassytha tasmannica Meisn. orth. var., Cassytha tepperiana C.F. Ludw . ex Tepper , Cassytha pubescens var. fasciculata Meisn. , Cassytha pubescens var. macrostachya F. Muell. nom. inval., nom. nud., Cassytha pubescens R.Br. var. pubescens ) : It occurs in Australia in South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, in the Australian Capital Territory as well as in Tasmania and perhaps on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Cassytha racemosa Nees (Syn .: Cassyta racemosa Nees orth. Var., Cassytha subcapitata Meisn. , Cassytha racemosa var. Genuina Hochr. ): It occurs only in the Australian state of Western Australia.

use

Little is known about the use of Cassytha species.

Because of its tannin content, Cassytha filiformis is used as a brown dye. From Cassytha filiformis the cooked plant parts are eaten as a vegetable. Cassytha filiformis is used very locally to make paper.

The medicinal effects of Cassytha filiformis have been studied. Cassytha filiformis is used in folk medicine.

Medically effective ingredients in Cassytha filiformis are mainly: alkaloids , tannins , saponins and leucantho cyanine .

Negative impacts

Cassytha filiformis parasitizes crops in many areas of the world, especially fruit trees and timber plantations, and impairs yields. Cassytha filiformis is only rated as an invasive plant species in a few countries . In the natural vegetation, Cassytha filiformis has negative effects on rare plant species. Cassytha filiformis causes some problems in crops.

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Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Henk van der Werff: Lauraceae. : In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 3: Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae , Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1997, ISBN 0-19-511246-6 . Cassytha - online with the same text as the printed work.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Xi-wen Li, Jie Li, Henk van der Werff In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (eds.): Flora of China. Volume 7: Menispermaceae through Capparaceae. Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 2008, ISBN 978-1-930723-81-8 . Cassytha , p. 254 - online with the same text as the printed work.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m GJ Harden: Datasheet in the New South Wales Flora .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u data sheet at VicFlora = Flora of Victoria , 2019, with information from JA Jeanes: Lauraceae. In: NG Walsh, TJ Entwisle (Ed.): Flora of Victoria , Volume 3: Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae. Inkata Press, Melbourne, 1996.
↑ ^a ^b data sheet in the Electronic Flora of South Australia = FloraSA , 2007.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z JZ Weber, 2020, Cassytha. Datasheet In: Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra. With information from JZ Weber: Cassytha. , Pp. 117-119. In: AJG Wilson (Ed.): Flora of Australia , Volume 2, 2007 as PDF.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Chung-Shien Wu, Ting-Jen Wang, Chia-Wen Wu, Ya-Nan Wang, Shu-Miaw Chaw: Plastome Evolution in the Sole Hemiparasitic Genus Laurel Dodder (Cassytha) and Insights into the Plastid Phylogenomics of Lauraceae. In: Genome biology and evolution , Volume 9, Issue 10, 2017, pp. 2604-2614. doi : 10.1093 / gbe / evx177
^ Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius: Flora Brasiliensis , Volume 5, Pars 2, 1866–1868, plate 107 scanned in at botanicus.org .
↑ HR Coleman, Leslie Watson, September 8, 2016: Datasheet in the Western Australian Flora .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cassytha at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed May 24, 2020.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t data sheet at Australian Plant Census = APC.
^ JL Weber: A taxonomic revision of Cassytha (Lauraceae) in Australia. In: Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens , Volume 3, Issue 3, 1981, pp. 187-262. JSTOR 23872351 PDF.
↑ The Lauraceae family on the AP website .
↑ ^a ^b Species list for Cassytha in the Red List of South African Plants
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Cassytha in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Accessed May 31, 2020.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d data sheet Cassytha filiformis in Invasive Species Compendium = CABI with distribution map , also as an invasive plant species.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e data sheet Cassytha filiformis at Useful Tropical Plants at Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Scot C. Nelson: Plant Disease , July 2008, PD-42, UH-CTAHR of the University of Hawai'i at Mänoa, Honolulu. Cassytha filiformis - full text PDF.
↑ ^a ^b data sheet Cassytha filiformis at Plant Resources of South-East Asia = PROSEA .

Web links

Commons : Cassytha - collection of images, videos and audio files

Cassytha at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis

Cassytha at Tropicos.org. In: Catalog of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis

Cassytha at Tropicos.org. In: Flora Mesoamericana . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis

Entry in Parasiticplants , with distribution map.

MA Hyde, BT Wursten, P. Ballings, M. Coates Palgrave, 2020: Flora of Zimbabwe : Data sheet Cassytha .

MA Hyde, BT Wursten, P. Ballings, M. Coates Palgrave, 2020: Flora of Zambia : Data sheet Cassytha .

MA Hyde, BT Wursten, P. Ballings, M. Coates Palgrave, 2020: Flora of Mozambique : Datasheet Cassytha .

MA Hyde, BT Wursten, P. Ballings, M. Coates Palgrave, 2020: Flora of Malawi : Datasheet Cassytha .

MA Hyde, BT Wursten, P. Ballings, M. Coates Palgrave, 2020: Flora of Botswana : Cassytha data sheet .