Bellardia trixago
Species of flowering plant
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Through Species and Inflorescence
Description
Bellardia trixago is an erect plant often reaching over half a meter in height. Its foliage is rich green and dotted with glands and hairs. The sawtoothed leaves extend about halfway up the plant, with the upper half of the stem being occupied with a stout inflorescence which narrows to a point. The inflorescence has rows of leaflike bracts, between which emerge showy purple and white lipped, hooded flowers, each over two centimeters wide. The fruit is a smooth, green capsule. Mediterranean lineseed, like other broomrapes, is parasitic; this species is hemiparasitic in that it is green and photosynthetic but also taps into the roots of other plants to extract nutrients.
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Phylogeny
The phylogeny of the genera of Rhinantheae has been explored using molecular characters. Bellardia belongs to the core Rhinantheae. Bellardia is closely related to Parentucellia, to some Bartsia taxa, and to Odontites. In turn, these genera share phylogenetic affinities with Tozzia and Hedbergia, and then with Euphrasia and Bartsia.
Etymology
The genus name Bellardia is a taxonomic patronym in honor of Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi (1741–1826), an Italian botanist from Piedmont.
The species name trixago has two possible etymologies.
- It derives from the Ancient Greek word θρίξ (thríx), meaning "hair", and the Latin suffix agoused to indicate a property, and refers to the glandular-hairy characteristic of the plant.
- It derives from the Ancient Greek word τριξός, τρισσός, or τριττός (trixós, trissós, or trittós), meaning "triple", and refers to the trilobate lower lip of the flower. It is also the old Latin name of germanders (genus Teucrium).
Distribution and habitat
This plant is native to the Mediterranean Basin, but it is known in other places with similar climates, such as California and parts of Chile, where it is an introduced species and noxious weed.