Gonianthes nepalensis

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

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]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : Miers Publication : Trans. Linn. Soc. London 18(4): 537, t. 38 1841 [29 Jul-11 Aug 1841]

Similar Species

Members of the genus Gonianthes

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More Info

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Further Reading

• 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

• The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Dec 27, 2011.

Identifiers

• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 4533169

Footnotes

1. 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]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.