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Cytinus visseri Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Rosids >
Eurosid II > Order: Malvales > Family:
Cytinaceae > Genus: Cytinus
Like other members of Cytinus in southern Africa,
Cytinus visseri is a holoparasitic species with separate male and female
plants (dioecious).
Distribution and habitat
Occurs on rocky sand stone outcrops in South Africa
(Mpumalanga, Limpopo) and Swaziland.
Ecological interactions
Host plants
Pollination
Johnson et al. (2011) studied the pollination of
this species at a site at the top of Long Tom Pass in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
The flowers are pollinated by the following species of small
mammals:
Rhabdomys pumilio (Striped field mouse),
Elephantulus brachyrhynchus (Short-snouted elephant-shrew) and
Mus minutoides (Pygmy mouse). They are attracted to the flowers by a
strong scent that contains two main substances: (1) 1-hexen-3-one; and (2)
3-hexanone. The first substance is very attractive to these small mammals while
the second has a repellent effect but together the net effect is to attract
them. The flowers contain copious amounts of nectar, which is drunk by the
animals.
Publications (by date)
- Burgoyne PM. 2006. A new species of Cytinus (Cytinaceae)
from South Africa and Swaziland with a key to the southern African species.
Novon 16: 315-319.
- Johnson SD, Burgoyne PM, Harder LD, Dötter S. 2011. Mammal pollinators
lured by the scent of a parasitic plant. Proceedings of the Royal Society B
278(1716): 2303-2310. doi:
10.1098/rspb.2010.2175
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