A family of parasitic flowering plants that lack chlorophyll and feed on host plants.
From the genus Cytinus + Latin '-aceae' (botanical family suffix). Named in scientific taxonomy in the 1800s to classify these unusual non-photosynthetic plants.
These plants are the vampires of the plant world—they don't make their own food through photosynthesis but instead drain nutrients directly from host plants! Some are so specialized they only parasitize one or two specific plant species.
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