Flora of North America species comparison

Species 3 (2 in the flora).

Five species have been described in the genus; most authors accept Conopholis as including only from one to three species (R. R. Haynes 1971; A. G. Rodrigues et al. 2011, 2013). All taxa in the genus are strikingly similar morphologically. Differences in scale leaves, floral bracts, flowers, vestiture, and plant size have been used to separate species and varieties; the variability of these characters within taxa occasionally exceeds between-taxon differences. There is considerable overlap in any character set used to separate taxa. J. W. Thieret (1971) suggested that all taxa could be considered conspecific. Molecular and morphological studies by Rodrigues et al. (2011, 2013) provided strong evidence that three species should be recognized. The third taxon, C. panamensis Woodson, is known only from Central America. Hosts are all members of Quercus (Fagaceae).

Conopholis fruits develop a woody texture at maturity. Although members of the family are generally stated to produce capsular fruits, those of Conopholis generally remain indehiscent until degraded by either physical abrasion or invasion by predatory insects, such as ants. Seed dispersal tends to be of two types: short-range dispersal by the action of gravity, wind, and/or water following the breach of the wall; and longer-range dispersal following ingestion of the plants by various mammals.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Genera ca. 100, species ca. 2000 (27 genera, 292 species in the flora).

Orobanchaceae are now defined to include both the holoparasitic members traditionally included in the family (A. Cronquist 1981) and the hemiparasitic genera formerly included in Scrophulariaceae. Although multiple research groups focus on members of the Orobanchaceae, a widely accepted infrafamilial classification of the family in the sense of Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016) has not yet appeared.

The classification by J. R. McNeal et al. (2013), who found that Orobanchaceae comprise six clades, is followed herein (their named clades are roughly equivalent to tribes). The autotrophic Lindenbergia Lehmann (12 species in the Old World) corresponds to the basal clade sister to the rest of the clades. Species in our region are distributed among the remaining five clades: Cymbarieae D. Don (genus 1), Orobancheae Lamarck & de Candolle (genera 2–6), Rhinantheae Lamarck & de Candolle (genera 7–12), Buchnereae Bentham (genera 13 and 14), and Pedicularideae Duby (genera 15–27). Within the family, genera are arranged alphabetically within tribes, or within Pedicularideae, in subgroups within the tribe.

Parasitic plants attach to their hosts via haustoria (L. J. Irving and D. D. Cameron 2009). Haustoria are produced by both hemiparasitic and holoparasitic Orobanchaceae (E. Fischer 2004). In hemiparasitic taxa, haustoria usually tap their host’s xylem, mostly taking up water, mineral nutrients, and nitrogen from their host, and sometimes also carbon. Holoparasitic taxa derive all of their growth requirements predominantly from the host’s phloem (Irving and Cameron).

Parasitism has evolved once in the family (N. D. Young et al. 1999; J. R. McNeal et al. 2013); holoparasitism has arisen independently three times from the hemiparasitic condition (J. R. Bennett and S. Mathews 2006; McNeal et al.).

Some Orobanchaceae are serious pests, primarily on legume and grain crops in warmer and drier areas, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Striga is a particularly serious pest that parasitizes mostly monocots; S. gesnerioides attacks eudicots (K. I. Mohamed et al. 2006). Orobanche parasitizes eudicot crops primarily in temperate parts of the world (E. S. Teryokhin 1997). All Striga species and non-native species of Orobanche in the flora area are listed on the Federal Noxious Weed List (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/weeds/downloads/weedlist.pdf) in the United States.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)