Balanophoraceae FAMILY
Balanophora elongata
Balanophora elongata
Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
0/5
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
HabitPerennial
Growth—
The subspecies B. Elongata ungeriana has tubers that only contain a little wax[1]. The plant is parasitic on a variety of hosts. Those recorded are; Strobilanthes spp.; Maciopanax dispermiis; Schefflera aromafica; Rhododendron retiisum; Vaccinium laurifolium; V. Lucidum; Albizia lophantha; Ficus lepicarpa; F. Septica; F. Villosa; Girardinia heterophylla[1]. The plant flowers all year round[1]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if seed is required.
Propagation
Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Balanophora+elongata>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]Flora Malesiana Series 1 — Various · Nationaal Herbarium Nederiand, Universiteit Leiden branch · http://www.archive.org ↩︎A massive treatment of the plants of the Malaysian Archipelago. Much of it has been made available to download from the Internet
- [2]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
- [3]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.