Corsia

Corsia
Corsia ornata from Bird's Head Peninsula, Western New Guinea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Liliales
Family:	Corsiaceae
Genus:	Corsia Becc.
Type species
Corsia ornata Becc.
Species
See text

See text

Corsia is a little-studied plant genus from the monocotyledon family Corsiaceae. It was first described in 1877 by Italian naturalist Odoardo Beccari and contains 25 species, all of which lack chlorophyll and parasitize fungi for nutrition. All 25 species are distributed through New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands and Queensland, Australia.

In terms of appearance, the species of Corsia are quite uniform except for the flowers.Chromosome counts are known only from two species: Corsia cornuta and C. clypeata. Both have a diploid number (2n) of 18.

Corsia exist largely underground; only the seldom-formed flower stems develop above ground. The fine, thread-like and hairless root system is weakly branched and whitish, spreading widely just beneath the surface. Several hairless, unbranched and upright flowering stems sprout from a rhizome and are visible above ground. They are usually reddish in color and are 10 to 28 cm (3.9 to 11.0 in) high. The xylem is woody and not perforated.

The foliage along the stem is evenly distributed, and consists of three to seven broadly ovate pointed leaves. Those on the rhizomes are less developed than the reddish leaves on the flowering stems. Along the stem the leaves grow alternately, at their bases they sheath the stem almost entirely.

The growth of Corsia flowers appears to be triggered by combination of rain and drought, usually by a prolonged rainy season followed by several dry days. The zygomorphic, trimerous, nodding flowers grow singly and are terminal on the stems. The tepals are colored pale red to brownish red, sometimes with a bit of pale yellow and rarely brownish-green.

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