Cassytha sp.

국표에 없다.

Cassytha is a genus of some two dozen species of obligately parasitic vines in the family Lauraceae. Superficially, and in some aspects of their ecology, they closely resemble plants in the unrelated genus Cuscuta, the dodders. When fruit and flowers are absent in the field, the physical resemblance is so close that few people without technical training can discern the difference. In this respect and in their ecology the two genera present a spectacular example of convergent evolution. Nonetheless, Nickrent comments that "Cassytha is uneqivocally assigned to Lauraceae based on (both) morphological and molecular data." In its divergence from habits typical of the Lauraceae, Cassytha also presents examples of mosaic evolution

Several species of Cassytha are regarded as pests in various regions, though as a rule they are not as serious a problem as the true dodders. Some even yield a welcome harvest of fruit, or are valued for their perceived medicinal or aphrodisiac properties, partly because, like many members of the Lauraceae, some are fragrant when bruised. Their stems make useful strings for construction of thatched roofs and certain styles of lei and the like.

Probably the most useful common names for Cassytha species are laurel dodder or dodder laurel, because they look like dodder and are fragrant members of the laurel family, Lauraceae. The name love vine has merit because some species, in particular C. filiformis, are regarded as aphrodisiacs in the Caribbean region. In practice, the confusion between the various species of Cassytha and Cuscuta is so unavoidable that their common names are more or less interchangeable. Practically all the common names for dodder accordingly are widely applied in error to Cassytha as well, but as a matter of convenience in Florida at least, where members of both groups of plants are present as agricultural pests, a publication of the Department of Agriculture adopts the names woe vine for Cassytha and dodder for Cuscuta.

Though the Lauraceae constitute a large family, with thousands of species in tens of genera, Cassytha is its only known parasitic genus, and its climbing habit also is atypical of the family; most Lauraceae are woody shrubs or trees. The genus at one time was assigned its own family, Cassythaceae, but currently agreement on its inclusion into the Lauraceae is general.

As currently defined, Cassytha has a wide distribution for a genus of so few species. Most are native to Australia (including temperate regions, where they are the only native members of the family), but a few are indigenous to Africa, southern Asia, various islands, and regions in the Americas. Some species seem to have been spread inadvertently by humans and probably by birds as well, and now occur on several continents. C. filiformis, for example, grows in Hawaii (where it is said to be indigenous), the Australasian realm, northern South America, Central America, southern Florida, Japan, and South Africa. It also appears to have been transported to many major islands, and now is effectively pantropical.

The genus is cited as Cassytha L., Sp. Pl. 35 (1753), which means that Carl Linnaeus formally described it in 1753 in his monumental work, Species Plantarum. Otto Stapf updated the work in Flora Capensis in 1912.

Cassytha is unusual among Lauraceae in at least two respects: they are scandent herbaceous plants, and they are obligate parasites. Their stems are thread-like or wiry, and like most twining species, they twine round the host clockwise as seen from the source of growth. The vines generally turn yellowish once they have established themselves on a productive host because they then reduce or stop their production of chlorophyll. Cassytha species are stem parasites, adhering to their hosts by uniseriate haustoria that generally are small and oblong. Their leaves are without stipules, alternate, simple, and easily overlooked, being minute and scale-like.

Various species of Cassytha bear flowers in racemes, spikes, or heads. Depending on the species, the flowers are sessile or pedicellate. The individual flowers are hermaphroditic and bracteolate, each being attended by a bract and two smaller bracteoles. In general, the flowers are small, so much so that in many species they are inconspicuous.

The perianth has six tepals, the three outer tepals smaller than the inner. The 12 stamens are in four whorls. The receptacle of the fertilised fruit gradually envelops the ovary, becoming the fleshy part of the ripe fruit, which often retains the dried remnants of the perianth at its tip. In effect, the resulting fruit structure is a tiny drupe. The endocarp is bony and plays an important part in the reproductive process, both in protecting the seed while the fruit is eaten and in inhibiting germination until the endocarp decays, thereby permitting long-lived soil seed banks to accumulate.

SpeciesAuthorityNative Range

Species	Authority	Native Range
Cassytha aurea	J.Z.Weber	Australia
Cassytha candida	(J.Z.Weber) J.Z.Weber	Australia
Cassytha capillaris	Meisn.	Australia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Thailand
Cassytha ceratopoda *	Meisn.	Unresolved
Cassytha ciliolata	Nees	South Africa
Cassytha coronata *	Nees	Unresolved
Cassytha filiformis	L.	The Americas, Australasia, Indomalaya, tropical Africa and Polynesia.
Cassytha flava	Nees	Australia
Cassytha flindersii	(J.Z.Weber) J.Z.Weber	Australia
Cassytha glabella	(Nees) J.Z.Weber	Australia, Okinawa
Cassytha larsenii	Kosterm.
Cassytha major *	Gray	Unresolved
Cassytha melantha	R.Br.	Australia
Cassytha micrantha	Meisn.	Australia
Cassytha nodiflora	Meisn.	Australia
Cassytha paniculata	R.Br.	New Zealand
Cassytha paradoxae	Proctor
Cassytha pedicellosa	J.Z.Weber
Cassytha peninsularis	J.Z.Weber
Cassytha pomiformis	Nees	Australia
Cassytha pondoensis	Engl.	South Africa
Cassytha pubescens	R.Br.	Australia, New Zealand, Okinawa
Cassytha racemosa	Nees	south west Western Australia
Cassytha rubiginosa *	E. Mey.	Unresolved
Cassytha rufa	J.Z.Weber

Cassytha - Wikipedia

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