Higher classification Lentibulariaceae | Scientific name Genlisea Rank Genus | |
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Similar Byblis, Drosophyllum, Heliamphora, Aldrovanda, Roridula | ||
Icps conference 2010 fernando rivadavia on genlisea
Genlisea /dʒɛnlᵻˈsiːə/ is a genus of carnivorous plants also known as corkscrew plants. The 30 or so species grow in wet terrestrial to semi-aquatic environments distributed throughout Africa and Central and South America. The plants use highly modified underground leaves to attract, trap and digest minute microfauna, particularly protozoans. Although suggested a century earlier by Charles Darwin, carnivory in the genus was not proven until 1998.
Contents
- Icps conference 2010 fernando rivadavia on genlisea
- 2010 icps conference fernando rivadavia on genlisea
- Description
- Taxonomy
- Botanical history
- References
The generic name Genlisea honors the late Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis, a French writer and educator.
Several species in the genus, including G. margaretae, G. aurea, and G. tuberosa, possess the smallest known genomes of all flowering plants.
2010 icps conference fernando rivadavia on genlisea
Description
Genlisea are small herbs, growing from a slender rhizome and bearing two morphologically distinct leaf types - photosynthetic foliage leaves aboveground and highly modified subterranean leaves used to trap prey. The plants lack roots, although the subterranean traps perform many of the functions normally performed by roots, such as anchorage and water absorption.
Several to many flowers are held by a slender, erect, and often tall inflorescence. As in other members of the bladderwort family, the corolla is fused into a bilobed tube tapering to a spur, with the lower lip of the corolla having three lobes. The calyx is five-lobed, in contrast to Utricularia's three-lobed calyx. Corolla colors are generally yellow or violet to mauve, although a few species are white or cream.
The foliage leaves grow in a hemisphere around the growth point. Depending on species, these leaves are linear to spatulate in shape and 0.5–5 cm (¼–2 in) in length.
The subterranean traps are white, lacking chlorophyll or any other pigmentation. They consist of a cylindrical stalk, widening at some distance below the surface into a hollow bulb-like utricle, and continuing as a hollow cylinder some further distance. At this point the stalk bifurcates into two furrowed spirals, between which the cylinder opening acts as the trap entrance. The furrows of the spiraled trap arms are lined with hairs pointing inward and toward the bifurcation. The hollow cylinder section leading from the bifurcation to the utricle is likewise lined with upward-pointing curved hairs. Some species produce two trap forms, one shorter and one longer, which probably target different prey groups.
Taxonomy
Twenty-nine species are currently recognised in the genus. Two varieties are also considered valid: G. aurea var. minor and the autonymous G. aurea var. aurea. Intraspecific determination depends almost wholly upon the inflorescence, particularly upon the indumentum.
Botanical history
The genus was discovered by Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire, who in 1833 described four species: G. aurea, G. filiformis, G. pygmaea, and G. violacea.