Arachnitis

Not to be confused with Arachnites.

Arachnitis uniflora, the sole species in the genus Arachnitis, is a non-photosynthetic plant species in the family Corsiaceae.^[2] This species is mycoheterotrophic, and it obtains carbon from mycorrhizal fungi of the family Glomeraceae which are associated to its roots.^[3][2]

Arachnitis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Liliales
Family:	Corsiaceae
Genus:	Arachnitis Phil.
Species:	A. uniflora
Binomial name
Arachnitis uniflora Phil.
Synonyms[1]
Arachnitis Kuntze Arachnitis quetrihuensis Dimitri

A. uniflora is native to southern South America (Bolivia, Chile, Argentina) and the Falkland Islands.^[1]

Description

Although the fungi present in the roots of this species are in some ways the same kind of arbuscular mycorrhizae which are found in the roots of many plants, the details of their association with the plant roots differ in key ways (such as the absence of arbuscules).^[2]