A Fungus Root is Not a Fungus - Observation of the Week, 10/17/23
Our Observation of the Week is this Fungus Root plant (Balanophora fungosa), seen in Australia by @donalddavesne!
“I stumbled on this strange Balanophora plant while on a hike in Far Northern Queensland, where I was traveling for a scientific conference,” says Donald Davesne, who’s currently working as an evolutionary biologist with the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris.
My first thought was that it was a mushroom, but looking more closely I quickly realized the presence of flower parts and leaves. The thing lacks any green, which explains why it could be hard to recognize it as a flowering plant. I deduced this is because this plant functions the same way as the broomrapes (Orobanchaceae) that I knew from my home continent. It is a parasite that feeds on other plants and lost the ability to produce its own energy through photosynthesis.
As an evolutionary biologist, I was thrilled!
If you take a close look at fungus root plants (and yes, they do parasitize other plants), you’ll see that there are two types of flowers. The rounded top part is covered in tiny, tiny female flowers, and the larger male flowers grow near the base. The flowers emit a “mousy” smell which seems to attract all sorts of pollinators, from insects to rats. Several insects use parts of the plant as breeding chambers.
Donald (above), who’s studying the evolution of teleost fishes, says he’s always been interested in nature but his experience as a field naturalist is somewhat limited and mostly came via the Timarcha Association when he was a student in Paris. That’s changing, however.
I started using iNaturalist right after the first COVID lockdowns in 2020, though, and haven't stopped since. Using my camera to document everything I see, and putting observations on the website made me learn so much, not only on the organisms I am most familiar with (vertebrates) but also on other stuff like plants.
(Photo of Donald by Julien Guibert-Peeters. Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity)
- you can follow Donald on X/Twitter, and check out a bio and list of publications here.
Comments
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/447655-Mystropetalon
Another one from that interesting family
Mystropetalon: Bloodcob - Cape Flora endemic: Bird and Rodent pollinated, seeds dispersed by ants, total parasite on Protea and Leucadendron (Proteaceae). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order_by=votes&place_id=113055&taxon_id=447655
(also in s Afr: Sarcophyte sanguinea Diarrhoea Rose - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=337669&place_id=113055 - a parasite on Vachellia - Sweetthorns).
Brilliant observation, @donalddavesne! There's a recent and fascinating paper documenting convergent gene loss in holoparasitic plant lineages incl. Balanophora: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01517-7
Speaking of evolution: as a biologist, I would highly appreciate if comments alluding to God's creation could be avoided as much as we don't want discussing politics here.
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Folks, let's please keep this discussion focused on the observation and the observer.
Very interesting to see how evolution can drive a species of plants, who can make Photosynthesis, into a whole new thing, i would never know it's a plant by looking at it at first. It reminds me of how carnivory in plants, found a way to happen like 7 different times, same problem, different but similar solutions. Well done Donald!
Forgot, I also wrote blog post about Balanophora laxiflora plants in Taiwan a few years ago: https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/29332-parasitic-plant-flowers-from-2002-observation-of-the-week-12-8-19 Parasitic plants are so cool and weird.
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What a great find!! I’m so glad the iNat bug bit you too; I also started using it heavily during the worst of Covid.
Very interesting!
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