Data for: Local adaptation of a generalist hemiparasitic plant to one of its potential host plants

Coevolution is often found in parasite-host interactions but has not yet been described for hemiparasitic plants and their hosts. Root hemiparasites like Rhinanthus alectorolophus perform photosynthesis but also parasitize other plant species, some of which (e.g. Plantago lanceolata) may defend themselves against parasite attack by blocking the haustoria of the parasites. We grew seedlings of the hemiparasite Rhinanthus alectorolophus and the potential host Plantago lanceolata from seven grassland sites in a factorial design. To detect differences in host defence, we also included hosts from two ‘naïve’ populations from regions where the parasite does not occur. R. alectorolophus grew consistently larger and had higher fitness with sympatric than with allopatric hosts, suggesting parasite adaptation to local host populations. Moreover, R. alectorolophus remained smallest with allopatric hosts from the same region and reached intermediate sizes with allopatric hosts from other regions or..., , , # Data for: Local adaptation of a generalist hemiparasitic plant to one of its potential host plants

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wwpzgmssh](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wwpzgmssh)

The publication describes three different experiments involving the hemiparasite *Rhinanthus alectorolophus* and its defended host *Plantago lanceolata*.

## Description of the data and file structure

Four tables are provided as separate CSV files.

Several of the variables contain missing data - these are either due to the experimental design (e.g., no parasite biomass in the host control treatment) or due to mortality (e.g., parasite died after planting).

The abbreviations of the variables are:

### Table 1: Main Experiment (Rhi Pla Data)

Variable - Explanation

* ID - Number of Pot
* HostPop - Host population
* ParPop - Parasites population
* Rep - Replicate
* HostReg - Host region (KW = Kleinwalsertal; RH = Rhön; NH = Northern Hesse; Ne = neutral)
* ParReg - Parasite region (KW = Klein...