Flora of North America species comparison

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.)

Species 20–35 (1 in the flora).

Melampyrum occupies a broad range of habitats and infects a taxonomically and ecologically diverse range of hosts. No recent comprehensive taxonomic treatment of Melampyrum exists. Species number estimates range from 20 (K. J. Kim and S. M. Yun 2012) to 35 (E. Fischer 2004). A molecular phylogenetic study of the Rhinantheae (in the sense of Fisher) supports the monophyly of Melampyrum, placing it sister to the remaining Rhinantheae (J. Těšitel et al. 2010). Melampyrum is unusual in Orobanchaceae in that the seeds are relatively large and few per capsule. The seeds bear an elaiosome that has been linked to dispersal by ants (W. Gibson 1993).

Etymology: Greek melam- (combining form of melas before b and p), black, and pyros, wheat, alluding to color of seeds

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