Utricularia albocaerulea
| Utricularia albocaerulea | ||||||||||||
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| Utricularia albocaerulea | ||||||||||||
| Dalzell |
Utricularia albocaerulea is a plant from the genus of the water hoses ( utricularia ) within the family of lentibulariaceae (Lentibulariaceae). This carnivorous plant species grows terrestrially . This endemic occurs exclusively in India in the Western Ghats .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Utricularia albocaerulea is a small, probably annual, herbaceous plant . It has only a few thread-like rhizoids that grow from the base of the inflorescence stem, are thickened up to 0.5 millimeters at the base, taper to around 0.1 millimeters towards the tip and are 1 to 2 centimeters long. There are only a few, branched runners ; they are capillary, around 0.2 millimeters thick and several centimeters long.
Only a few leaves are formed, mostly during the flowering period. The stalked leaves arise from the base of the inflorescence stem and the nodes of the runners. The three-veined leaf blade is up to 5 millimeters long and about 1 millimeter wide and obovate with a rounded upper end.
There are only a few traps, they sit on the foothills and leaves, are round and around two millimeters in diameter. The opening of the trap points towards the base of the trap, under it sit two simple appendages.
Generative characteristics
The flowering period extends from September to November. The upright, single inflorescence stem is 8 to 15 centimeters long and with a diameter of 0.5 to 1 millimeter thread-like and glabrous. A few scaly leaves similar to the bracts sit on it . The bracts are up to 1.5 millimeters long, tapering to a point and broadly ovate-triangular. The prophylls are much shorter, only around 0.15 millimeters wide and awl-shaped . Two to five flowers stand together loosely in a racemose inflorescence at a distance of up to 3 centimeters . The flower stalks stand upright during the anthesis , are narrowly winged, thread- shaped and up to 8 millimeters long.
The fragrant, hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic with a length of 0.9 to 1.5 centimeters and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The sepals are unevenly lobed, broadly ovate, the upper lobe is pointed, the lower lobed narrower and split elliptical at the end. The pale blue petals are 1.2 to 1.5 inches long. The white upper lip is about 4 millimeters wide and approximately circular above a square base, its lateral edges are bent back and the upper end is rounded. The lower lip is lying elliptical, up to 1.5 centimeters wide, forked and thickened at the base, with curved back edges and a notched end, the throat is ciliate. The awl-shaped, pointed spur is straight or slightly curved, is at an angle of approximately 90 ° to the lower lip and is around six millimeters long. The anthers are curved and around a millimeter long, the stylus is short, the upper lip of the scar is semicircular, the lower lip shorter. The pollen are three, four or five colporat , between 20 and 25 micrometers long and 28 to 33 micrometers wide. The ovary is egg-shaped.
During the fruiting season, the flower stalks bend down, the sepals enlarge after flowering and are membranous. The elliptical, flattened capsule fruit with a length of about 3 millimeters has a membranous outer skin and is completely enclosed by the sepals; when ripe it opens lengthways and releases many seeds. The seeds are egg-shaped and 0.3 to 0.35 millimeters long. The seed coat (testa) has a pattern of elongated, approximately three- to rectangular cells, the boundaries of which are greatly increased.
Distribution and site conditions
Utricularia albocaerulea occurs exclusively in the Western Ghats , a mountainous landscape in the southwest of the Indian state of Maharashtra around 150 kilometers southeast of Mumbai (formerly Bombay).
It inhabits moist soils and wet rocks on extensive, flat plateaus at low to medium altitudes. Vegetation is only found there during the monsoon season - mostly species of the families of the Poaceae , Cyperaceae and the genus Eriocaulon . In the second half of the monsoon season, which lasts only four to six weeks, Utricularia albocaerulea forms together with other water hoses ( Utricularia reticulata , Utricularia purpurascens ) extremely large populations that can stretch over several square kilometers. The entire stock blooms - with the exception of a few stragglers at the end of the season - synchronously; Due to the density of the stands, 300 to 600 flowers per square meter are in bloom at the same time.
During the monsoon season , heavy rains prevail, which wash out the red to black, sometimes very acidic (pH 4.5–6.0) laterite soils so that nutrients cannot accumulate, plus strong winds and thick fog. At the end of the monsoon season, hot and dry phases accumulate, and temperatures of over 50 ° C can occur on the surfaces of the rocks. During this time, the herbaceous vegetation on the plateaus dies completely.
Systematics
The first description of Utricularia albocaerulea was in 1851 by Nicol Alexander Dalzell in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany , Volume 3, page 279. The specific epithet albocaerulea translated means “white-blue” and refers to the color of the flowers. There are neither synonyms nor infraspecific taxa.
The species Utricularia albocaerulea belongs to the Oligocista section from the subgenus Bivalvaria in the genus Utricularia .
Utricularia albocaerulea is very similar to Utricularia lazulina , which is also endemic to India and to which Taylor suspects a close relationship. The species differ only in their seed shape and the width of the lower lip of the crown. The species Utricularia purpurascens and Utricularia reticulata are closely related .
Cultural history
In the Indian vernacular the plant is called " Sitáchi A'sre ", in German "Sita's tears". This points to her legendary origin: Sita , wife of Rama , is kidnapped by a demon. After Rama has freed her, he unjustifiably denounces her faithlessness, her tears fall on the southern Konkan , where they turn into the flowering plants.
literature
- Peter Taylor: The Genus Utricularia. A Taxonomic Monograph. (= Kew Bulletin. Additional Series. 14). Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew, London 1989, ISBN 0-947643-72-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Nina Hobbhahn, Heike Küchmeister, Stefan Porembski: Pollination Biology of Mass Flowering Terrestrial Utricularia Species (Lentibulariaceae) in the Indian Western Ghats. In: Plant Biology. Volume 8, No. 6, 2006, ISSN 1435-8603 , pp. 791-804, doi : 10.1055 / s-2006-924566 .
- ^ Utricularia albocaerulea at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed November 24, 2018.
- ^ A b c Peter Taylor: The Genus Utricularia. A Taxonomic Monograph. (= Kew Bulletin. Additional Series. 14). Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew, London 1989, ISBN 0-947643-72-9 .
- ↑ Alexander Kyd Nairne: History of the Konkan. In: History of the Konkan Dakhan and Southern Marátha Country (= Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency. Volume 1, Tl 2, ZDB -ID 2702321-7 ). Government Central Press, Bombay 1894/1896, pp. 1–131, here p. 28 .