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Thonningia Vahl

Genus

Angiosperms > Santalales > Balanophoraceae

Characteristics

Plants dioecious. Tuber rhizome-like, cylindrical, branched, swollen at point of contact with host-root. Inflorescence-bearing stems breaking through buds on the tuber, leaving a short lobed volva basally. Stem with numerous spirally arranged triangular-lanceolate scale-leaves. Inflorescence unbranched, spadix-like with axis obconical, terminally convex, bearing numerous flowers. Male flowers pedicellate; perianth-segments 2–6, linear, spirally arranged; anthers 3–6, linear-elongate, united but with apices finally free, 2-thecous and extrorsely dehiscing. Female flowers linear-prismatic, densely crowded, perianth tubular, obscurely 2–3-lobed; style 1, exserted. Infructescence a swollen hemisphere, bearing minute 1-seeded achenes.
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Inflorescences of involucrate heads of flowers from buds on tuber, unbranched, pedunculate to sessile; peduncles densely covered with imbricate scales; receptacle of male inflorescences flat to slightly convex, of female inflorescences conical to hemispherical.
Male flowers: fewer and less densely packed in head than female; perianth segments spirally arranged, unequal in length and extent of attachment to synandrium; stamens united into a synandrium.
Female flowers: numerous and densely packed in head; perianth cylindrical, irregularly 2–4-lobed; style long-exserted; ovary inferior, 1-locular.
Tubers irregularly shaped, emitting horizontal, cylindrical, branched rhizomes.
Fruits 1-seeded achenes aggregated into a hemispherical infructescence.
Dioecious or rarely monoecious plants.
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Sexuality dioecy
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Usage

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Cultivation

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Images

Thonningia unspecified picture

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:329934-2
WFO ID wfo-4000038241
COL ID 7W62
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Thonningia Haematostrobus

Lower taxons

Thonningia sanguinea
WorldFloraDB 2024