Cuscuta seeds: Diversity and evolution, value for systematics/identification and exploration of allometric relationships.

ABSTRACT: Cuscuta (dodders) is a group of parasitic plants with tremendous economic and ecological significance. Their seeds are often described as "simple" or "unspecialized" because they do not exhibit any classical dispersal syndrome traits. Previous studies of seed morphology and/or anatomy were conducted on relatively few species. We expanded research to 101 species; reconstructed ancestral character states; investigated correlations among seed characters and explored allometric relationships with breeding systems, the size of geographical distribution of species in North America, as well as the survival of seedlings. Seed morphological and anatomical characters permit the separation of subgenera, but not of sections. Identification of Cuscuta species using seed characteristics is difficult but

SUBMITTER: Olszewski M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292398 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature