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Drosera Glanduligera
''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow. Various species, which vary greatly in size and form, are native to every continent except Antarctica. Charles Darwin performed much of the early research into ''Drosera'', engaging in a long series of experiments with ''Drosera rotundifolia'' which were the first to confirm carnivory in plants. In an 1860 letter, Darwin wrote, “…at the present moment, I care more about ''Drosera'' than the origin of all the species in the world.” Taxonomy The botanical name from the Greek ''drosos'' "dew, dewdrops" refer to the glistening drops of mucilage at the tip of the glandular trichomes that resemble d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drosera Tokaiensis
''Drosera tokaiensis'' is a species of sundew native to Japan. It is considered to be a natural hybrid of ''Drosera rotundifolia ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribut ...'' and '' Drosera spatulata''. These two parent species have 20 and 40 chromosomes, respectively, so recent hybrids between them are sterile, having 30 chromosomes, while the stabilized, fertile ''D. tokaiensis'' has 60 (i.e. allohexaploid). The species was previously thought to be a subspecies or variety of '' Drosera spatulata''. It is often mistaken for ''D. spatulata'' in cultivation. File:Drosera tokaiensis (flower and bud).jpg, Flower File:Drosera tokaiensis (leaf s2).jpg, Leaf References Carnivorous plants of Asia tokaiensis Flora of Japan Plants described in 1978 {{Droseraceae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as product (chemistry), products. Almost all metabolism, metabolic processes in the cell (biology), cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called ''enzymology'' and the field of pseudoenzyme, pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties. Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types. Other biocatalysts include Ribozyme, catalytic RNA molecules, also called ribozymes. They are sometimes descr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nutrient
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excreted by cells to create non-cellular structures such as hair, scales, feathers, or exoskeletons. Some nutrients can be metabolically converted into smaller molecules in the process of releasing energy such as for carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and fermentation products ( ethanol or vinegar) leading to end-products of water and carbon dioxide. All organisms require water. Essential nutrients for animals are the energy sources, some of the amino acids that are combined to create proteins, a subset of fatty acids, vitamins and certain minerals. Plants require more diverse minerals absorbed through roots, plus carbon dioxide and oxygen absorbed through leaves. Fungi live on dead or living organic matter and meet nutrient needs from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drosera Erythrogyne and occurs in an area along the southern Western Australian coast west of Albany in swamps or near granite outcrops. It produces small leaves along a long, scrambling stem that can grow to long. White flowers emerge from August to October. ''Drosera erythrogyne'' is a scrambling or climbing perennial tuberous species in the genus ''Drosera'' that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows in soils that are peat-sand to loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbaceous Plant
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of the '' Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' defines "herb" as: # "A plant whose stem does not become woody and persistent (as in a tree or shrub) but remains soft and succulent, and dies (completely or down to the root) after flowering"; # "A (freq. aromatic) plant used for flavouring or scent, in medicine, etc.". (See: Herb) The same dictionary defines "herbaceous" as: # "Of the nature of a herb; esp. not forming a woody stem but dying down to the root each year"; # "BOTANY Resembling a leaf in colour or texture. Opp. scarious". Botanical sources differ from each other on the definition of "herb". For instance, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation includes the condition "when persisting over more than one growing season, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annual Plant
An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. Globally, 6% of all plant species and 15% of herbaceous plants (excluding trees and shrubs) are annuals. The annual life cycle has independently emerged in over 120 different plant families throughout the entire angiosperm phylogeny. The evolutionary and ecological drivers of the annual life cycle Traditionally, there has been a prevailing assumption that annuals have evolved from perennial ancestors. However, recent research challenges this notion, revealing instances where perennials have evolved from annual ancestors. Intriguingly, models propose that transition rates from an annual to a perennial life cycle are twice as fast as the reverse transition. The life-history theory posits that annual plants are favored when adult mortality is higher than seedling (or seed) mortality, i.e., annuals will dominate environments with dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perennial Plant
In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also loosely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth (secondary growth in Tree girth measurement, girth) from trees and shrubs, which are also technically ''perennials''. Notably, it is estimated that 94% of plant species fall under the category of perennials, underscoring the prevalence of plants with lifespans exceeding two years in the botanical world. Perennials (especially small flowering plants) that grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die back every autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their rootstock or other overwintering structure, are known as Herbaceous plant, herbaceous perennials. However, depending on the rigours of the loca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus Flytrap
The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to the temperate and subtropical wetlands of North Carolina and South Carolina, on the East Coast of the United States. Although various modern hybrids have been created in cultivation, ''D. muscipula'' is the only species of the monotypic genus ''Dionaea''. It is closely related to the waterwheel plant ('' Aldrovanda vesiculosa'') and the cosmopolitan sundews (''Drosera''), all of which belong to the family Droseraceae. ''Dionaea'' catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a "jaw"-like clamping structure, which is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves; when an insect makes contact with the open leaves, vibrations from the prey's movements ultimately trigger the "jaws" to shut via tiny hairs (called "trigger hairs" or "sensitive hairs") on their inner surfaces. Additionally, when an insect or spider touches one of these hairs, the trap prepares to close, only fully ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldrovanda
''Aldrovanda'' is a genus of carnivorous plants encompassing one extant species ('' Aldrovanda vesiculosa'', the waterwheel plant) and numerous extinct taxa. The genus is named in honor of the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, the founder of the Botanical Garden of Bologna, Orto Botanico dell'Università di Bologna.Genaust, Helmut (1976). ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen'' ''Aldrovanda vesiculosa'' has been reported from scattered locations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Description The waterwheel is a small, free floating and rootless aquatic plant, with a length of about , and whorls of about in diameter. At every 3 to 4 cm the plant branches, sometimes forming offshoots. An average of 12 to 19 whorls spans the length of the plant, each with about 5 to 9 leaves, each up to 11 mm long. The growth is faster than terrestrial carnivorous plants, sometimes growing about 4 to 9 mm a day. In temperate regions the plant goes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drosera Regia
''Drosera regia'', commonly known as the king sundew, is a carnivorous plant in the sundew genus ''Drosera'' that is endemism, endemic to a single valley in South Africa. Individual leaves can reach in length. It has many unusual Relict (biology), relict characteristics not found in most other ''Drosera'' species, including woody rhizomes, operculum (botany), operculate pollen, and the lack of circinate vernation in scape (botany), scape growth. All of these factors, combined with molecular phylogenetics, molecular data from phylogenetic analysis, contribute to the evidence that ''D. regia'' possesses some of the most ancient characteristics within the genus. Some of these are shared with the related Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula''), which suggests a close evolutionary relationship. The tentacle-covered leaves can capture large prey, such as beetles, moths, and butterflies. The tentacles of all ''Drosera'' species have special stalked glands on the leaf's upper su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
