Correlations between Haustoria Formation and Parasitic Development in Orthocarpus purpurascens (Scrophulariaceae)

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Abstract
Three lines of evidence correlate the parasitic performane of Orthocarpus purpuruscens Benth. with numbers of haustoria produced: (i) the pattern of variation in numbers of haustoria produced in agar culture with different chemical stimuli corresponds closely to the variation pattern of parasite vigour produced by a range of host plants; (ii) the progeny of plants demonstrating vigorous growth with hosts produce significantly more haustoria than progeny from parents exhibiting weak parasitic development; (iii) conversely, seedlings that produce high numbers of haustoria in agar culture grow significantly better when transplanted with hosts than do seedlings with low numbers of haustoria. Haustoria-forming potential is heritable, but highly influenced by environmental factors. Potential number of haustoria is a product of the concentration and/or quality of haustoria inducing stimuli, and the parasite's individual ability to respond. Intra-population differences in parasitic development appear to be largely due to the quantity rather than the quality of substrates received from host plants.

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