Quantitative Approach for Determining Reproductive Life-History Strategies of Parasitic Plants: A Case Study in <i>Balanophora</i>.

ABSTRACT: Parasitic plants are a diverse and unique polyphyletic assemblage of flowering plants that survive by obtaining resources via direct vascular connections to a host plant. Ecologically important in their native ecosystems, these typically cryptic plants remain understudied and fundamental knowledge of the biology, ecology, and evolution of most species is lacking. This gap limits our understanding of ecosystems and conservation management. We established a multistep protocol to conduct the first investigation of the reproductive life history of root parasite genus Balanophora, testing the hypotheses of perenniality, cryptic perenniality, and plasticity across five geographically isolated populations in Taiwan. A review of 123 Balanophora publications found contradictory determ

SUBMITTER: Padgett T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11724198 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature