Byblis guehoi
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| Byblis guehoi | ||||||||||||
| Lowrie & Conran , 2008 |
Byblis guehoi is a carnivorous rainbow plant species fromthe rainbow plant family (Byblidaceae). It wasfirst describedin 2008 by Allen Lowrie & John Godfrey Conran , making it the youngest known species of the genus. It belongs to the annual, northern Australian Byblisarten, which are summarized in the " Byblis liniflora complex".
features
Byblis guehoi is an annual herbaceous plant with weak to strongly branching growth that can reach a height of up to 10 centimeters and a diameter of 20 to 30 centimeters.
The one or more prostrate, green to bronze main shoots arise from a common root system, reach a length of 15 to 18 centimeters and a thickness of 2 to 3.5 millimeters. Each lateral branch ends in more densely leafy shoots that reach a length of 6 to 8 centimeters. The stem, leaves and flower stalks are densely covered with long and short, translucent glandular hairs that give the plant a diffuse shimmer in full sunlight.
The leaves , tapering towards the tip of the leaf, are thread-like, elliptical in cross-section, 2.5 to 3.3 centimeters long, around 1 millimeter wide and 0.5 millimeters thick at the base.
The upright to almost upright inflorescences have terminal single flowers, grow from the axils of the leaves of the side shoots, reach a length of 3.5 to 8 centimeters and a diameter of 1 to 1.5 millimeters.
The five sepals are green, lanceolate, tapering to a point and covered with glands on the outside. They reach a length of 4.5 to 6 millimeters and are 0.8 to 1 millimeter wide at the base. The five inverted egg-shaped petals are light purple on the front with slightly darker, fan-shaped veins, white on the back, 9 to 12 millimeters long and 7 to 12 millimeters wide. The petals are entire, only sawn and serrated on the outer edge. The diameter of the individual flower fluctuates with the growing conditions, with ideal humidity it can be up to 20 millimeters, with the beginning of the dry season they become significantly smaller, down to a diameter of only around 7 millimeters.
The parallel stamens are 4 to 6 millimeters long and release the pollen at the same time. The filaments are purple and 1.5 to 2 millimeters long, longitudinally abutting, yellow anthers 3.5 to 4 millimeters long, the pollen is yellow. The stylus is bright purple, with a length of 4.5 to 5 millimeters longer than the filaments and bends below the dust bag away. Towards the end it is widened, the scar is dark purple. The ovary is green, rounded and 1 to 1.5 millimeters in diameter.
The capsule , sparsely occupied by glands, is broad, inverted ovoid, 3 to 4 millimeters long and 4 to 5 millimeters wide. The black, glossy, egg-shaped to elliptical seeds have a honeycomb-like relief, are 0.7 to 0.8 millimeters long and 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters wide.
Byblis guehoi is tetraploid , the number of chromosomes is 2n = 32.
distribution
The species is currently only known from a single location in the Kimberley Mountains of Western Australia , but it is common there. It is found in association with low-growing tussock grasses , between which sandy, open areas represent the habitats of Byblis guehoi and which are surrounded by Acacia tumida , Eucalyptus tetrodonta , Eucalyptus miniata and Corymbia bella . The soils of the locations consist of sand and clay silt , are extremely poor in nutrients and can hardly hold water, so they dry out very quickly with the end of the rainy season.
Botanical history
Byblis guehoi was discovered in 2004 by Russ Guého (a biologist, nature photographer and teacher) and Allen Lowrie and first described in 2008 by Allen Lowrie together with John Godfrey Conran . The species epithet honors the discoverer, the correct pronunciation is "go-jo-i".