Cytinus hypocistis explained

Cytinus hypocistis is an ant-pollinated^[1] species of parasitic plant in the family Cytinaceae having four subspecies. It is found primarily in locations that surround the Mediterranean Sea, and is the type for the genus Cytinus.^[2] The binomial has been conserved.^[2]

Distribution

Cytinus hypocistis is native to Albania; Algeria; Crete; Croatia; Cyprus; Greece; France (including Corsica); Israel; Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily); Lebanon; Libya; Malta; Morocco; Portugal; Spain (including both the Balearic and Canary Islands); Syria; Tunisia; and Turkey.

The subspecies macranthus is native to Portugal and western Spain; orientalis is native to southern Greece and Crete; and pityusensis is endemic to Ibiza of the Balearic Islands.

Uses

Cytinus hypocistis has been used in traditional medicine to treat dysentery and tumors of the throat, and has been used for its astringent qualities.^[3]

Notes and References

Clara de Vega . Montserrat Arista . Pedro L. Ortiz . Carlos M. Herrera . Carlos M. Herrera . Salvador Talavera . May 2009 . The ant-pollination system of Cytinus hypocistis (Cytinaceae), a Mediterranean root holoparasite . Annals of Botany . 103 . 7 . 1065–1075 . 10.1093/aob/mcp049 . 2707910 . 19258337.
Web site: Name - !Cytinus L. . Tropicos . . . T: Cytinus hypocistis (L.) L.; annotation: nom. cons. . November 15, 2012.
Web site: . Cytinus hypocistis (RAFFLESIACEAE) . Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases . November 15, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150923174003/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/duke/ethnobot.pl?ethnobot.taxon=Cytinus%20hypocistis . September 23, 2015 . dead .