Stylidium violaceum
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| Stylidium violaceum | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 S. violaceum print from Ferdinand Bauer's 1813 Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae.
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| Stylidium violaceum R. Br. |
Stylidium violaceum (the violet triggerplant) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus Stylidium (family Stylidiaceae). S. violaceum is endemic to Australia and is found primarily in the southwestern region of Western Australia. It can grow up to 50 cm including the scape. The mostly purple flowers are 10 mm tall and 6 mm broad. Leaves are 5 cm long and about 4 mm broad.[1] Flowering occurs mainly from October to January. S. violaceum is found in locations with sandy or loamy sand soil texture conditions on hillslopes, dunes, or winter wet depressions and swamps.[2]
Pollination is achieved through the use of the sensitive "trigger" (a floral column, in which the stamen and style are fused) that snaps forward quickly in response to touch, covering the insect in pollen. All triggerplants can also be described as being protocarnivorous because the glandular trichomes on the scape and flower parts can trap, kill, and digest small insects. It is unknown if this plant engages in nutrient uptake after proteases digest the captured insects, though if it was confirmed, this species would be considered truly carnivorous.[1][3][4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Darnowski, Douglas W. (2002). Triggerplants. Australia: Rosenberg Publishing.
- ^ Western Australia's FloraBase entry on S. violaceum.
- ^ Erickson, Rica. (1961). An introduction to triggerplants. Australian Plants, 1(9): 15-17. (Available online: HTML)
- ^ Darnowski, D.W., Carroll, D.M., Płachno, B., Kabanoff, E., and Cinnamon, E. (2006). Evidence of protocarnivory in triggerplants (Stylidium spp.; Stylidiaceae). Plant Biology, 8(6): 805-812. (Abstract online: HTML)
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