A study on the parasitic and semi-parasitic plants of Iran with an emphasis on their pharmaceutical and industrial values

The parasitic life is an example of interaction between two species (parasite and host plant), whose result is positive for one species and negative for the other species. Parasitic plants are more evolved than other species in the same family. Iran’s vegetation also includes some of these taxa, and the parasitic plants have been studied in surveys and repeated visits to the natural areas of the country. Even though their presence in vegetative areas is not centralized and is low in number, they are mostly found in all habitats and climates. In this research, a list of families and genera of parasitic and semi parasitic plants were prepared from the lists of country’s herbariums and existing sources. Reviewing these taxa in Iran’s flora showed that these plants include nearly 108 parasitic and semi-parasitic taxa. These species belong to six families including Loranthaceae, Cynomoriaceae, Santalaceae, Convolvulaceae, Orobanchaceae and Apodanthaceae. Orbanchaceae is the largest parasitic family in Iran with 12 genera and 71 species. It includes 26 semi-parasitic species from nine genera and 45 parasitic species from three genera. About 30 species of this list are being used in Iran’s traditional medicine for industrial and medicinal purposes. This study is a step for introducing these types of flowering plants that have not been considered properly by researchers.