Balanophora fungosa explained

Balanophora fungosa, sometimes known as fungus root, is a flowering plant in the family Balanophoraceae and occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and some Pacific islands. It is a parasite growing on the roots of rainforest trees. The flowering structure is shaped like a puffball but in fact consists of a globe covered with thousands of tiny female flowers. The globe is surrounded at its base by a much smaller number of male flowers. In flower, the plant emits an odour resembling that of mice.[1] [2]

Description

Like other members of its genus, B. fungosa is holoparasitic and contains no chlorophyll.[1] The aerial parts of the plant consist of a hard, irregularly shaped tuber from which the flower-bearing structures extend.[3] The leaves are scale-like, pale cream in colour, NaNmm long, NaNmm wide and more or less stem clasping.

The plant is monoecious or dioecious. When monoecious, it bears both pistillate (female) and staminate (male) flowers. Thousands of minute female flowers cover a globe-shaped structure NaNmm in diameter. The styles are less than 1mm long. About 20 male flowers are arranged around the base of the globe, each about NaNmm in diameter with a pedicel about NaNmm long and are covered with powdery white pollen.[2]

Taxonomy and naming

Balanophora fungosa was described by Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster in 1774 and the description was published in Characteres Generum Plantarum.[4] [5] The species epithet fungosa is the adjectival form of the Latin word fungosus meaning "fungus-like", which refers to the plant's superficial resemblance to a mushroom.[6]

The names of two subspecies are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Balanophora fungosa subsp. fungosa is monoecious, while subspecies indica is dioecious.[9]

Distribution and habitat

Balanophora fungosa is found in coastal forests from near sea level to 900m (3,000feet) in Australia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Ryukyu Islands, New Guinea, the Philippines, some Pacific Islands including New Caledonia,[10] [11] India[12] and Cambodia. In Australia it occurs in Queensland, from about Noosa to the tip of Cape York Peninsula.[2]

Ecology

Twelve species of plant in eight families are known to be hosts to Balanophora fungosa var. indica including some of those in the genera Syzygium, Olea and Rapanea.[13] The plant is sometimes a weed in coffee and tea plantations.

Numerous small animals visit the flowers, including ants, springtails, flies, a moth of the family noctuidae, and even rats, which appear to be attracted by the smell. Workers of the Asiatic honeybee, Apis cerana have been observed collecting pollen.[14] Two beetle species of the genus Lasiodactylus, a moth of the family Pyralidae and a moth of the family Tipulidae use the bracts at the base of the flowers as a breeding site.[15]

Use as medicine

Some cultures, such as the Paliar people of Tamil Nadu, use B. fungosa to treat medical conditions.[16]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Balanophora fungosa . BSA Parasitic Plant Pages . Botanical Society of America . St. Louis, MO . 4 January 2015 . 20 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190420121801/https://botany.org/Parasitic_Plants/Balanophora_fungosa.php . dead .
  2. Web site: F.A.Zich . B.P.M.Hyland . T.Whiffen . R.A.Kerrigan . Bernard Hyland . 2020 . Balanophora fungosa subsp. fungosa . Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8) . . 29 June 2021.
  3. Book: Kuijt. Job. Hansen. Bertel. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants Volume XII. Springer. 978-3-319-09295-9. 206. 2014-11-18.
  4. Web site: Balanophora fungosa. APNI. 25 December 2015.
  5. Book: Forster. Johann Reinhold. Forster. Georg. Characteres generum plantarum, quas in itinere ad insulas maris Australis. 1775. London. 100. 25 December 2015.
  6. Book: Brown. Roland Wilbur. Roland W. Brown. The Composition of Scientific Words. 1956. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.. 415.
  7. Web site: Balanophora fungosa subsp. fungosa. Australian Plant Census. 7 May 2021.
  8. Web site: Balanophora fungosa subsp. indica. Australian Plant Census. 7 May 2021.
  9. Barlow, B.A. (1984) in George, A.S. (ed) Flora of Australia. Volume 22. Rhizophorales to Celastrales. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.
  10. Web site: Flora of China. 18 January 2015.
  11. Web site: Balanophora fungosa . Endemia, New Caledonia . 28 June 2021.
  12. Rao. J. Prakasa. Satish. K.V.. Sankar. B. Siva. Reddy. C. Sudhakar. Kumar. O. Aniel. On the occurrence of parasitic plant Balanophora fungosa J.R. Forster & G. Forster (Balanophoraceae) in Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 26 February 2015. 7. 2. 6943–6946. 10.11609/JoTT.o3962.6943-6. 25 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305093226/http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2015/February/o396226ii156943-6946.pdf. 5 March 2016. dead. free.
  13. Kim. Joo Hwan. Won. Hyosig. Identification of Plant Host Species of Balanophora fungosa var. indica from Phnom Bokor National Park of Cambodia using DNA barcoding techniquein. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy. 4 November 2013. 43. 4. 252 - 262. 12 January 2015. 10.11110/kjpt.2013.43.4.252.
  14. Suetsugu. Kenji. Aoyama. Toshiyuki. Apis cerana visiting flowers of the Holoparasitic Plant Balanophora fungosa ssp. indica. Entomological News. September 2014. 124. 2. 145–147. 10.3157/021.124.0211. 25 December 2015.
  15. Book: K.S. Bawa . M. Hadle . Beetle Pollination in Tropical Forests of Australia . Irvine, Anthony K. . Armstrong, Joseph E. . Reproductive Ecology of Tropical Forest Plants. CRC Press. 1991. 143. 9781850702689. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tHFay3R190QC&oi=fnd&pg=PA135&dq=Balanophora+fungosa.
  16. Kannan. R.. Babu. U.V.. Pharmacognostical Studies on Balanophora fungosa  - a Negative Listed Plant. Ancient Science of Life. September 2011. 31. 1. 22 - 25. 22736886. 3377038.

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