Monotropastrum

Monotropastrum humile

Monotropastrum is a genus of plants of the family Ericaceae ( Ericaceae ). The two species are native to South Asia.

Description

Monotropastrum are chlorophyll -less, myco - heterotrophic, herbaceous plants. Their roots are a dense mass growing from them shoot and inflorescence axis is nodding and is pure white. The leaves are simple, bracteoles absent.

The inflorescence is one to wenigblütig. The flowers are three to fünfzählig, sepals may be missing and can be distinguished only with difficulty. The crown is tubular, the petals are not fused together at the base and more or less sac- shaped. The stamens are just as long as the crown, the anthers are horizontally kidney shaped and slotted one or more times at the end. Between the epipetal standing stamens are the paired lobed nectaries. The style is vigorous and slender, permanently, the trumpet-shaped scar.

The ovary has parietal placentation. The fruit is berry-like, the seeds are ovoid.

Dissemination

The genus is found in South Asia from the Indian Punjab over Laos, Vietnam and Korea to the Indonesian Sumatra at altitudes 1000-2700 meters.

System

The genus was first described in 1935 by Heinrich Andres. A synonym is Eremotropa. It includes two types:

• Monotropastrum humile ( D.Don ) H.Hara
• Monotropastrum sciaphilum (Andres ) G.D.Wallace.

Evidence

• P.F. Stevens et al.: Ericaceae. In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.): The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants - Volume VI - Flowering Plants - Dicotyledons - Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales. 2004, pp. 167-168, ISBN 978-3-540-06512-8

• Heather plants
• Ericaceae
• Mykoheterotrophe plant