Plants, the inside story

As well-read botanists, readers of this blog site are probably quite knowledgeable on the subject of epiphytic plants, which are plants – such as mosses, liverworts, ferns, cacti, orchids and bromeliads – that live on the outer surface of other plants.  However, most of us are probably less familiar with the concept (and reality…) of endophytic plants, which live within the body of other plants. Or, where we’ve heard of the term it is likely to be more in the context of endophytic fungi or bacteria. Strange as it may seem, endophytes can also be found amongst the angiosperms. And, by way of giving a ‘shout-out’ for those curious plants who’ve adopted this most couch-potato of lifestyles, I’m pleased to advise that a new key (plus consideration of the systematics of this worldwide family, a map, and colour photos of most species’ sexual organs…) to the Apodanthaceae (a family of two genera comprising 10 species) has been published by Sidonie Bellot and Susanne Renner. 

Living as endo-parasites permanently inside trees or shrubs of the families Salicaceae or Fabaceae, these plants emerge only to flower and fruit; consequently the Apodanthaceae is among the least-known families of flowering plants. Since the plants do not carry out any photosynthesis of their own, they are completely dependent upon their host for their nutrition (i.e. they are also holoparasitic). Endophytes, curious organisms(!). However, probably more famous is the equally holoparasitic relative of Apodanthes and Pilostyles, Rafflesia. Notwithstanding the smallness of its vegetative body, R. arnoldii has the honour of producing a flower >100 cm in diameter and weighing up to 10 kg. Amongst its other claims to fame – or should that be infamy? – is the smelliness of the flower’s odour, which is reminiscent of rotting flesh and which has earned it the rather ghoulish appellation of ‘corpse flower’. Furthermore, as well as stealing nutriment from its host, Rafflesia has also famously ‘borrowed’ many genes from the vine within which it resides, by the non-reproductive DNA transmission process known as horizontal transfer of genes. So, and although allegedly named in honour of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (both the ‘Father of Singapore’ and the ‘Father of the London Zoo’), this curious case of karyo-kleptomania seems more reminiscent of the antics of one A. J. Raffles, ‘gentleman thief’! And there’s even more bizarre genetic antics with the ‘suggestion’ (scientist’s code ‘for highly likely probability’…) that R. lagascae may be devoid of a chloroplast genome. I don’t know – flowering plants devoid of leaves, roots, shoots and some without chloroplast DNA. Are they really plants? Discuss!