Jackal Food (Hydnora africana) (Kan 2024)
Piperales, rækkefølge af blomstrende planter omfattende 3 familier, 17 slægter og 4.170 arter. Sammen med ordrene Laurales, Magnoliales og Canellales danner Piperales den magnoliide clade, som er en tidlig evolutionær gren i angiospermtræet; Clade svarer til en del af underklassen Magnoliidae under det gamle Cronquist botaniske klassificeringssystem.
Mange Piperales-arter er dyrkede prydplanter, inklusive firbenhale (Saururus cernuus); Peperomia arter; Anemopsis fra det sydvestlige Nordamerika; Houttuynia, en bunddækning fra Asien; vild ingefær (Asarum); og vinstokke Aristolochia-arter, nogle kendt som hollandske pipe. Piper nigrum er den vigtigste kilde til det krydret krydderi kendt som sort peber (men også grøn eller hvid peber).
Fælles karakteristika
Medlemmer af ordenen Piperales har ofte flere funktioner, der også findes i monocotyledons, herunder diskrete vaskulære bundter i stammen og det tredobbelte blomster. Selvom der er træagtige medlemmer, er denne rækkefølge karakteristisk urteagtig og har ofte hævede bladknudepunkter. Reproduktion med frø er den vigtigste metode til spredning af arter i Piperales, men fragmentering af jordstængler i firbenens hale-familie sikrer vegetativ forplantning. Druppen er den herskende frugtart i Piperaceae eller peberfamilien, mens tørre frugter kendetegner de fire andre familier.
Familier
Saururaceae, firbenens hale-familie, er hjemmehørende i Nordamerika og Sydøstasien. Det inkluderer fem slægter og seks arter, de fleste af dem aromatiske urter med krybende rodstængler (vandrette stængler). Planterne beboer normalt våde områder.
The largest family in Piperales is Piperaceae, which is pantropical and includes 5 genera and some 3,600 species, most of them in the large genera Peperomia and Piper (the black pepper genus). Saururaceae and Piperaceae are closely related. Their inflorescences (flower clusters) are slender, spikelike, and covered with inconspicuous closely appressed flowers. Even though individual flowers are small, the floral spikes are showy, and in several Saururaceae species the spikes resemble a single flower because of the expanded bracts that arise below the inflorescence. In Saururus the elongate cluster bends at its tip to suggest the fanciful appellation “lizard’s tail.” Other features common to most species of these two families include a sheathing leaf base, a lack of sepals and petals, bisexual flowers (stamens and carpels in the same flower), and the presence of one erect ovule per ovary chamber.
Aristolochiaceae, the birthwort family, includes about 590 species of woody vines, shrubs, and herbaceous species. Most species are distributed in the tropics of both hemispheres, though several genera are in the temperate zone. Compared with the flowers of other Piperales families, those of Aristolochiaceae are usually large, and some trap pollinating flies that are lured by unpleasant smells. Asarum and Saruma are herbaceous genera of the north temperate zone, most diverse in eastern Asia. Aristolochia includes more than 400 species of vines and herbs, many of them tropical. It is this group that is sometimes divided into two or four separate genera.
Lactoris fernandeziana, the only species in Lactoris (formerly of the family Lactoridaceae), is found on one island of the Juan Fernández Archipelago, off the coast of Chile. The leaves have a sheathing base, and the flowers occur singly or in small clusters along the stem. The flower stalks, or petioles, appear to arise from a sheathing leaf base that lacks a leaf blade. Lactoris pollen has been recovered in southern Africa from sediments dating back to the Late Cretaceous Epoch (100.5 million to 66 million years ago).
The former family Hydnoraceae is now a small subfamily of Aristolochiaceae, with seven species in two genera. They are terrestrial parasitic plants that lack leaves and chlorophyll. The large flowers have a single three-parted perianth whorl and an inferior ovary; they are foul-smelling and are pollinated by flies and beetles. Prosopanche occurs in Central and South America, and Hydnora occurs in Africa, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula. The southern African Hydnora triceps grows exclusively on succulent species of Euphorbia.
