Triuridaceae

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Triuridaceae A family of monocotyledonous (see MONOCOTYLEDON) small tropical herbs which are always saprophytic. The plants lack photosynthetic pigments and their leaves are reduced to scales distributed along the colourless or reddish stem. The regular flowers are either dioecious or monoecious, and unisexual or bisexual, and are borne in racemes. There are up to 10 perianth segments held in series, which are equal or unequal; in some species a tuft of hair is present in the tip of the segment. The 2–6 stamens are free, sometimes with some infertile stamens in the separate male or female flowers. In the male flowers there may be 3 fertile stamens and 3 staminodes. After flowering the segments reflex. The female flowers often have staminodes. The ovary is superior with free, unfused, uniovular carpels which each have a single style. The fruit is a dense mass containing the seeds, which have an oily, white endosperm. There are 6 genera, with 42 species, present in all the tropical and warm regions of the world.