ANATOMÍA DE LA INTERACCIÓN Cladocolea loniceroides (Van Tieghem) Kuijt – Salix bonplandiana Kunth

Abstract

Few are the parasite plants responsible of important forest deseases; they are the third cause of harm and they produce the loss of more than 2 million square meters of wood. Cladacolea loniceroides is a hemiparasitic mistletoe that affects about 15 species of trees just in Mexico City, and it is one of the major decline agents of the health of many shrubs. At the lake site of Xochimilco, this species has caused many problems to Salix bonplandiana, which is the most representative tree of this emblematic lake zone of Distrito Federal. Since this mistletoe produces an infection on the trunk and branches, the vigour and aesthetics of the trees has been seriously affected, which, when very intense, can induce death. As there are no results about the histhopathological problems that this parasite generates upon the willow, the main purpose of the actual research was to study the anatomy of the C. loniceroides-S. bonplandiana interaction. Observations made it possible to determine that the endophytic system of C. Loniceroides is made up of a simple or primary haustorium with a wedge shape. Its penetration does not generate necrosis, but it does produce xilematic cell displacement of the host, and, consecuently, a modification of its physiology.