Cassytha Osbeck

Typus: Cassytha filiformis L.

Diagnostic characters. – Herbaceous, parasitic vine without leaves.

Distribution. – Pantropical.

Number of species in Madagascar. – 1 (native, non-endemic).

Recent literature. – WEBER (1981).

Notes. – All species of Cassytha are leafless, herbaceous and parasitic vines. Largely because of their habit they have been placed in a separate family, Cassythaceae but phylogenetic studies (ROHWER, 2000; CHANDERBALI et al. 2001) have shown that Cassytha is nested within Lauraceae .