Heliamphora nutans
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Heliamphora nutans in Kew Gardens |
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Heliamphora nutans is a carnivorous plant from the genus of the marsh jugs ( Heliamphora ), it is only known from a few table mountains in the border triangle Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.
features
Heliamphora nutans is an herbaceous plant that forms vase-shaped tubes up to 10 to 30 centimeters in length. The opening of the tubes reaches a diameter of up to 7 centimeters. A funnel-shaped part leads from the opening to a constriction from which the hose expands in a bulbous manner. It is mostly yellowish green in color and streaked with red veins. Over the opening, the plant forms a small red, hat-shaped or helmet-shaped lid.
The white or pale pink, bell-shaped flowers are arranged in inflorescences around 80 centimeters high.
Occurrence
Heliamphora nutans occurs on some tepuis in the Venezuelan border area with Guyana and Brazil , including Roraima-Tepui, Yuarani-Tepui , Kukenan-Tepui , Tramen-Tepui and Ilu-Tepui .
Heliamphora nutans is found at altitudes of 1200 to 2810 meters. On the nutrient-poor plateaus of the table mountains , the plant is exposed to large temperature fluctuations between day and night. At night, the plateaus of the Roraima-Tepui cool down to a few degrees Celsius, despite the tropical climate zone. However , there is no night frost . Temperatures of 15 to 25 degrees Celsius were measured during the day.
The species is dependent on a lot of light and heavy rainfall, which provide the moisture here, but have contributed to the karstification of the rocky landscape. The lack of nutrients is made up for by trapping animals that fall into the tubes. However, these animals are not digested by the plant itself, but are broken down by bacteria. The nutrients are then absorbed by the plant ( precarnivory ).
Systematics
Heliamphora nutans is the type species of the genus Heliamphora , until 1931 it was also the only known species of the genus. It was first discovered in 1838 by Moritz Richard Schomburgk and Robert Hermann Schomburgk and described in 1840 by George Bentham . The specific epithet nutans ( Latin for "nodding") refers to the nodding flowers.
Research history
In 1885 Sir Everard Im Thurn managed the first ascent of the Roraima-Tepui. He reported that Heliamphora nutans , the "pitcher plant of South America", can also be found on the plateau of the 2810 meter high mountain. Apart from the possible occasional occurrence in higher elevations of the Pico da Neblina , this is the highest contiguous distribution area of a swamp jug.
Hybrids of Heliamphora nutans and Heliamphora ionasii are known from the Tramen-Tepui .
In 1881 David Burke (1854-1897), who was looking for rare plants on behalf of Veitch and Sons in what was then British Guiana , brought Heliamphora nutans to England, where it was cultivated.
gallery
Green colored plant
Blooming Heliamphora nutans
Look into the trap
Detail of the flower of Heliamphora nutans
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literature
- George Bentham : On the Heliamphora nutans, a new Pitcher-plant from British Guiana. In: The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Vol. 18, 1840, pp. 429-432 , (first description).
- Stewart McPherson: Pitcher Plants of the Americas. The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Blacksburg VA 2007, ISBN 0-939923-74-2 , pp. 156-160.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stewart McPherson: Pitcher Plants of the Americas. The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Blacksburg VA 2007, pp. 156-160, here p. 160
- ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7643-2390-6 (reprint ISBN 3-937872-16-7 ).
- ↑ Stewart McPherson: Pitcher Plants of the Americas. The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Blacksburg VA 2007, pp. 156-160, here p. 157.
- ↑ H. nutans x ionasi (Tramen Tepui) ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of Andreas Wistuba.
- ↑ David Burke (1854-1897) biography at Orchids.co.in (engl.).
- ↑ James H. Veitch: Hortus Veitchii. A history of the rise and progress of the nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and sons, together with an account of the botanical collectors and hybridists employed by them and a list of the most remarkable of their introductions. James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea 1906, pp. 87 and 299 .
