Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, parasitic or hemiparasitic. Leaves sessile, alternate, scale-like or ± linear. Flowers bisexual, solitary or in cymes, each flower subtended by 1, often
conspicuous, bract which is often adnate to the pedicel or peduncle and 2 bracteoles or (in T. atrum and T.
fastigiatum) by an involucre of 4 or more bracts. Perianth (3-4-)5-lobed, often with conspicuous external glands on the
perianth tube below the sinuses of the lobes. Stamens as many as lobes; anthers (in ours) attached to lobes by tufts of hairs. Ovary with 3 ovules. Stigma capitate. Fruit a nut, rarely
fleshy, usually 10-ribbed, crowned with the
persistent perianth. Worldwide: 325 species in the Old World Caprivi: 7 cultivated taxa. The larvae of the following species of insect eat species of this genus: |
No image yet |