Stemsucker

Description

Pilostyles is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the family Apodanthaceae. It was formerly placed in the Rafflesiaceae. It includes several species of parasitic plants that live inside the stems of other plants and produce tiny flowers that burst through the surface of the host plants' tissue. Plants of this genus are sometimes referred to as stemsuckers. Pilostyles are specialized parasites of woody-stemmed legumes. There are about 20 species. They are perennial herbs that lack roots and chlorophyll, as they obtain water and nutrients from their hosts.[The plants themselves are only a few millimeters wide and live within the host plant tissue, becoming externally visible only when the flowers emerge. The flowers are two or three millimeters wide and in some species each female flower can produce over 100 seeds, which are minute.