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Cytinus
Cytinus is a genus of root parasites that have no chlorophyll and draw everything from host plants, mainly rockrose (Cistus and Halimium) in the Mediterranean and South Africa. They cannot be grown as ordinary garden plants and need their specific host to survive.
Cytinus is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. Species in this genus do not produce chlorophyll, but rely fully on its host plant. Cytinus usually parasitizes Cistus and Halimium, two genera of plants in the family Cistaceae. It has also been found on Ptilostemon chamaepeuce.
Several species are found in the Mediterranean Region, South Africa, with a possibly undescribed species from Madagascar.
The young C. hypocistis is cooked as an asparagus substitute and an extract has been used in herbal medicine for dysentery, throat tumors and as an astringent. C. ruber is also edible and was used in folk medicine as an emmenagogue.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cytinus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
