Towards inventory of non-photosynthetic plants in Vietnam: a progress report

The paper summarizes results of investigations of non-green plants carried out in the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center during the years 2009-2018. The checklist is provided which includes 29 species in seven families. Among them, holoparasites are represented only by the family Balanophoraceae (4 spp.), while the mycoheterotrophs comprise Ericaceae (1 sp.), Petrosaviaceae (1 sp.), Orchidaceae (16 spp.), Burmanniaceae (1 sp.), Thismiaceae (3 spp.) and Triuridaceae (4 spp.). Four species new to science and several new species records for Vietnam were published during this study. The highest diversity of non-photosynthetic plants was found in Central Highlands and especially in Thach Nham protected forest and Chu Yang Sin National Park. The obtained specimens are currently employed in morphological, phylogenetic and genomic studies of several groups of heterotrophic plants.