Overview
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Critically Endangered |
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Description
Family Burmanniaceae
Herbs, annual
or perennial
, mycotrophic and white or purplish, or autotrophic and green. Roots
subterranean
, mycorrhizal, filiform
or stoutly terete
. Stems monopodial, unbranched or with few branches, erect
, slender; rhizomes present or absent. Leaves present or absent, cauline or basal, alternate, simple
, sessile, often scalelike, margins
entire; stipules absent. Inflorescences terminal
cymes, sometimes appearing racemose or capitate, or flowers solitary; each flower subtended by scalelike floral
bract. Flowers: tepals 6, partially or wholly connate
, tube
persistent
or caducous
in fruit, limb lobes
3 in 1 whorl or 6 in 2 whorls, greenish, purple, or white, sometimes blue-tinged, often ribbed
or winged
, throat
with or without annulus; stamens 3 or 6, sessile or subsessile
; pollen sacs
separated on appendaged connective
or connective broadened and connate, forming ring
proximal
to annulus; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 1- or 3-locular; placentation parietal
or axile
; ovules numerous
; style 1, 3-branched apically; stigmas 3. Fruits capsules, ovoid
, obconic, or cup-shaped; dehiscence transverse
, longitudinal
by 3 valves
, or irregular. Seeds numerous, minute.
Genera ca.
15, species ca. 125 (3 genera, 5 species in the flora
) : mostly tropical
and subtropical
, worldwide.
Although Burmanniaceae have traditionally been placed in the Orchidales, it has been suggested that the family
may be more closely related to the Melanthiales (= Liliales in the broad sense, as traditionally circumscribed) (R. M.
T. Dahlgren et al.
1985) . More recently, molecular and morphological studies by L. R. Caddick et al. (2000, 2000b) support
placement of the family in the Dioscoreales
.
Burmanniaceae traditionally have been characterized as saprophytic
, but the life form is more accurately described as mycotrophic or myco-heterotrophic (J. R. Leake 1994) . Even the photosynthetic species have been shown to be endomycorrhizal (P. J. M. Maas et al. 1986b; C.
E. Wood
Jr. 1983) and have been described as hemisaprophytic. Saprophytism in the Burmanniaceae and other achlorophyllous
families has been fully discussed by J. R. Leake (1994) .[1]
Habitat
Ecology: Occurs in lowland evergreen
forest
; ca. 700 m
alt.[2]
List of Habitats
:1.6Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Liliopsida
()
- Scopoli, 1760
- Subclass:
Liliidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Lilianae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Burmanniales
()
- Heintze, 1927
- Family:
Burmanniaceae
()
- Blume, 1827
- Burmannia Family
- Genus:
Afrothismia
()
- Specific epithet:
pachyantha
- Schltr.
- Botanical name: - Afrothismia pachyantha Schltr.
- Specific epithet:
pachyantha
- Schltr.
- Genus:
Afrothismia
(
- Family:
Burmanniaceae
(
- Order:
Burmanniales
(
- Superorder:
Lilianae
(
- Subclass:
Liliidae
(
- Class:
Liliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Publishing author : Schltr. Publication : Bot. Jahrb. Syst. xxxviii. 139 (1906).
Similar Species
Members of the genus Afrothismia
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 11 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
A. amietii · A. baerae · A. foertheriana · A. gesnerioides · A. hydra · A. insignis · A. korupensis · A. mhoroana · A. pachyantha · A. saingei · A. winkleri
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Cable, S. and Cheek, M. (compilers and editors) 1998. The Plants of Mount Cameroon, A Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Hilton-Taylor, C. (compiler). 2000. 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
- Jonker, F. P. 1938. A monograph of the Burmanniaceae. Meded. Bot. Mus. Herb. Rijks Univ. Utrecht 51: 1279.
- Leake, J. R. 1994. Tansley review no. 69. The biology of myco-heterotrophic (saprophytic) plants. New Phytol. 127: 171216.
- Maas, P. J. M. et al. 1986. Burmanniaceae. In: Organization for Flora Neotropica. 1968+. Flora Neotropica. 75+ nos. New York. No. 42.
- Wood, C. E. Jr. 1983. The genera of Burmanniaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 64: 293307.
Notes
Contributors
- Cheek, M. 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5987069
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15288535
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:126541-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 126541-1
- IUCN ID: 39539
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1025794
Footnotes
- Deborah Q. Lewis "Burmanniaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 486. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- Cheek, M. 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
