Pinguicula moranensis

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iPinguicula moranensis

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lentibulariaceae
Genus:	Pinguicula
Species:	P. moranensis

Binomial name

Pinguicula moranensis
Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth

Pinguicula moranensis is an insectivorous plant of the genus Pinguicula, section Orcheosanthus.

[edit] Morphology

P. moranensis is a heterophyllous tropical species and, according to this, forms a summer- and a winterrosette. In winter its leaves are non-carnivorous. This is probably an adaptation to the absence of prey during the winter, which would make the production of expensive carnivorous leaves unfavourable.

In summer, P. moranensis lure insects onto the sticky surfaces of their leaves, which form a rosette with a diameter up to 20 centimetres and retain the prey and suffocate it with mucilage, much like a flypaper. The edges of the leaves have the ability to slowly curl allowing the enzymes secreted by the leaves to pool, and digest the prey. P. moranensis feed on small insects such as flies and use the nitrogen and phosphate they acquire from the protein and nucleic acids present in their prey to supplement the little they can acquire from the generally poor soils in which they grow.

Its peduncle is up to 25 cm long, the flower is dark pink with a white throat and has a diameter of up to 5 centimetres.

[edit] Distribution

P. moranensis is spread throughout Middle-America, it can be found in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. It is the most common Pinguicula species in Mexico, as it is found in many states including Yucatán, Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, Estado de México, Querétaro, San Luis Potosi, Morelos, Hidalgo, Guerrero, Zacatecas, Tlaxcala, Quintana Roo, and Michoacán.

P. moranensis prefers soils which contain gypsum.

[edit] Forms

There are many types and forms of P. moranensis, the most common being variety rosei and subspecies neovolcanica. There are an abundance of hybrids of this species. Like other Mexican Pinguicula, it forms a non-carnivorous, succulent rosette during the winter.