Shot plants
| Shot plants | ||||||||||||
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Stylidium turbinatum |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Stylidium | ||||||||||||
| Sw. ex Willd. |
The shot plants ( Stylidium ) are with over 300 species the most extensive genus of the Stylidiaceae family . Most of the species are found in Australia , where they represent the sixth largest genus of the flora there.
They have developed an unusual mechanism for the transmission of their pollen to pollinators by “beating” the pollinator with their gynostemium , a flower organ that arises from the growing together of the stamen and pistil .
features
Shot plants are mostly perennial, more rarely annual herbaceous plants. Some perennial species outlast as onions. Their size is very variable, they reach sizes from just a few centimeters up to 180 centimeters ( Stylidium laricifolium ). Mostly they are native rosettes, but there are also some special cases such as climbing ( Stylidium scandens ) or shrubby species ( Stylidium laricifolium ).
The foliage is also diverse and ranges from narrow, needle-shaped to short, stubby leaves ( Stylidium pulviniforme ).
The zygomorphic flowers, arranged in the form of a cluster , consist of four petals (only Stylidium hispidium has five) and reach a diameter of 5 to 30 millimeters. The flower color is different from species to species, but white, yellow and pink are often found, sometimes in combination. The column protrudes from the center of the flower; when stretched it is bent behind the petals.
The column of the plants is sensitive to touch. As soon as an insect lands on the flower, a previously built up action potential is triggered and a turgor change leads within up to 15 milliseconds (the speed is temperature-dependent, high temperatures accelerate the mechanism) to the "slamming" of the column on the body of the insect is dusted with pollen. If the bloom is already somewhat older, the younger out of the column has scar already replaced the dust bag and takes so at the touch of the insect body, if applicable, foreign pollen on. This temporal separation of the functions of the column avoids self-pollination .
Parts of the plants are covered with glandular hairs that secrete a sticky secretion that they use to catch insects. In 2006 it was shown that the plants also produce protease to digest their prey. With the proof of the metabolism of the dissolved nutrients in 2007, it was finally possible to prove that the genus is carnivorous .
Distribution and habitat
Most of the species of the genus are endemic to Australia, 150 species are native to Western Australia . Only four species are known to occur outside of Australia, namely Stylidium tenellum (Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam), Stylidium kunthii (Bengal and Myanmar), Stylidium uliginosum (Sri Lanka and southern China) and Stylidium alsinoides (Philippines).
Shot plants are found on grassy plains, open heathland, rocky slopes, sandy soils, in forests, and on the edges of streams and water holes.
Systematics
literature
- W. Scott Armbruster, Mary E. Edwards, Edward M. Debevec: Floral Character Displacement Generates Assemblage Structure of Western Australian Triggerplants (Stylidium). In: Ecology . Vol. 75, No. 2, 1994, pp. 315-329, JSTOR 1939537 .
- Douglas W. Darnowski: The history of triggerplants. International Triggerplant Society, 2002, ( Online ( July 13, 2003 memento in the Internet Archive )).
- Douglas W. Darnowski: Trigger Plants . Rosenberg Publishing, Dural Delivery Center NSW 2002, ISBN 1-877058-03-3 .
- Rica Erickson: An Introduction to Trigger Plants. In: Australian Plants. Vol. 1, No. 9, 1961, ISSN 0005-0008 , pp. 15-17, ( online ).
- GP Findlay: Movement of the Column of Stylidium crassifolium as a Function of Temperature. In: Australian Journal of Plant Physiology. Vol. 5, No. 4, 1978, ISSN 0310-7841 , pp. 477-484, doi : 10.1071 / PP9780477 .
- GP Findlay, Charles K. Pallaghy: Potassium chloride in the motor tissue of Stylidium. In: Australian Journal of Plant Physiology. Vol. 5, No. 2, 1978, pp. 219-229, doi : 10.1071 / PP9780219 .
- Ronald Good: On the Geographical Distribution of the Stylidiaceae. In: The New Phytologist. Vol. 24, No. 4, 1925, ISSN 0028-646X , pp. 225-240, JSTOR 2427897 .
- Nadina Laurent, Birgitta Bremer, Kare Bremer: Phylogeny and Generic Interrelationships of the Stylidiaceae (Asterales), with a Possible Extreme Case of Floral Paedomorphosis. In: Systematic Botany. Vol. 23, No. 3, 1998, ISSN 0363-6445 , pp. 289-304, JSTOR 2419506 .
- Steven J. Wagstaff, Juliet Ways: Patterns of diversification in New Zealand Stylidiaceae. In: American Journal of Botany. Vol. 89, No. 5, 2002, ISSN 0002-9122 , pp. 865-874, JSTOR 4131329 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Australian Flora & Vegetation Statistics ( Memento of the original dated August 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Douglas W. Darnowski, DM Carroll, Bartosz Płachno, E. Kabanoff, E. Cinnamon: Evidence of Protocarnivory in Triggerplants (Stylidium spp .; Stylidiaceae). In: Plant Biology. Vol. 8, No. 6, 2006, ISSN 1435-8603 , pp. 805-812, doi : 10.1055 / s-2006-924472 .
- ↑ Douglas Darnowski, Stephen Moberly, Bartosz Plachno: Triggerplants (Stylidium spp .; Stylidiaceae): A Previously Unrecognized Genus of Carnivorous Plants. , Presentation, "Botany & Plant Biology 2007", 7. – 11. July 2007, Chicago, Illinois, Session Cp52, Number Cp52001, Abstract ID 18, ( Abstract Online )
