Byblis gigantea
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B. gigantea is a carnivorous plant species of the genus byblis in the family of byblis plants (Byblidaceae). It wasfirst describedby John Lindley in 1839and is one of the two perennial, Western Australian Byblis species, which are summarized as the " Byblis gigantea complex".
features
Byblis gigantea is a perennial, mostly unbranched subshrub and grows from a thick and fleshy rhizome . It reaches a height of up to 60 centimeters, making it the largest representative of the genus.
Byblis gigantea grows and blooms in winter, and its habitats become completely dry in summer. The plants survive this time underground, they die above ground and only sprout again from the rhizome with the first rainfall in autumn.
leaves
The yellowish-green leaves are two to four centimeters long, linear, kidney-shaped in cross section and end in a thickening at the tip of the leaf. They are hairless on the surface, but densely populated with stalked glands on the edges and underside that secrete a sticky fluid.
blossoms
From the leaf axils , flower stalks grow above the base of the leaves , which hardly differ from the leaves, but are significantly shorter at 15 centimeters. At their tips between September and January (in the Australian summer) terminal five-fold individual flowers bloom, but only a few at the same time.
The lanceolate, hairy sepals are 8 to 15 millimeters long and 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters wide at the base. The inverted egg-shaped petals are 15 to 20 millimeters long and up to 15 millimeters wide and serrated on the outer edge. They are light to dark purple; white or cream-colored blooming specimens are extremely rare. The stamens are 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters, the anthers 5 to 6 millimeters long and yellow with a brown tip. The white stylus is 7 to 9 millimeters long.
Byblis gigantea only releases its pollen through the sound frequency of an approaching pollinator.
Fruits and seeds
The seed capsule , 5 to 7 millimeters long and 3.5 to 4 millimeters wide, is broadly ovate and bifacular; when it dries out, it gradually tears open so that the seeds it contains fall to the ground ( barochory ). The black, 1 millimeter long seeds are furrowed lengthways with clearly protruding elevations. The species is pyrophilic , the germination inhibition of the seeds is only lifted by substances in the smoke of the annual bush fires.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 12, 14 or 18.
Distribution, endangerment and habitat
The species has a very small range in Western Australia , it is endemic around Perth , where it grows in sandy soils or heathland. Allen Lowrie and John Godfrey Conran recorded only four locations of the species in 2002, all near the Canning River , another at Perth Airport was later known. The team also pointed out that Byblis gigantea was undoubtedly significantly more common before the city of Perth was founded.
Until 2000, Byblis gigantea was with the entire genus in Appendix II of the Washington Convention on Species Protection , at the request of Australia the protection was revoked. Byblis gigantea is on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is considered critically endangered.
Systematics
In 2002 Byblis lamellata was separated from Byblis gigantea as a separate species . The decisive factor were the differences in the shape of the seeds, while the seeds of Byblis gigantea are furrowed lengthways with clearly protruding elevations, while those of Byblis lamellata are furrowed like lamellae. The disjoint distribution areas, the different re-emergence and varying site conditions serve as further diagnostic features. Byblis lamellata prefers drier habitats than Byblis gigantea .
literature
- John G. Conran, Allen Lowrie, Jessica Moyle-Croft: A Revision Of Byblis (Byblidaceae) In South-Western Australia. In: Nuytsia . Vol. 15, No. 1, 2002, ISSN 0085-4417 , pp. 11-19 .
- Allen Lowrie: Carnivorous. Plants of Australia. Volume 3. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands 1998, ISBN 1-875560-59-9 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Byblis gigantea at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
Web links
- Byblis gigantea in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2013. Posted by: Conran, JG, Lowrie, A. & Leach, G., 2000. Retrieved on April 1, 2014.