''Drosophyllum'' ( , rarely ) is a genus of carnivorous plants containing the single species ''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'', commonly known as Portuguese sundew or dewy pine. In appearance, it is similar to the related genus ''

Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

'' (the sundews), and to the much more distantly related '' Byblis'' (the rainbow plants).

Description

''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'' is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

carnivorous plant with woody stems at the base, short, simple or rarely branched, tortuous or erect. Leaves are basal in a dense rosette, sessile, linear, sheathed, circinate, covered with sessile and pedunculated glands. The caulines are sessile, alternate, the upper bracteiform. Flowers are on top, racemiform or corymbiform and bear five yellow petals. The flower calyx has five lobes and is late deciduous. The plant has ten stamens and introrsal anthers.

Gynoecium Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

has five carpels. It has five styles, simple; capitate stigma. Fruit is in a unilocular capsule, and is partially divided into five locules, with irregular dehiscence by 3-5 teeth. Seeds are pear-shaped and rough, in diameter. The glandular

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

, which uncoil from a central rosette, lack the power of movement common to most sundews, but have the unusual characteristic of coiling 'outward' when immature (outward circinate vernation). Seed germination may be aided by

scarification Scarification involves scratching, etching, burning/ branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification or body art. The body modification can take roughly 6–12 months to heal. In t ...

Distribution and habitat

''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'' is native to the western Mediterranean region, through

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, southwest

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and northern

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

), and is one of the few carnivorous plants to grow in dry soil. It grows mainly in clearings of scrub (mainly heather), pine forests, evergreen forests (e.g. open

cork oak ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork (material), cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, ...

) and sunny heaths. In dry places and silicon, gravel or shale substrates, somewhat disturbed. It is a strictly calcific species, from sea level up to in altitude.

Ecology

The plant has a distinct sweet aroma, which attracts the

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s upon which it preys. When insects land on the leaves, they find themselves stuck to the

mucilage Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of ...

secreted by the stalked glands on the leaves. The more the insects struggle, the more ensnared they become, ultimately dying of suffocation or exhaustion. The plant then secretes

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 mol ...

s which dissolve the insects and release the nutrients, which are then absorbed by the plant. The plant uses these nutrients to supplement the nutrient-poor soil in which it grows. The genus had always been assumed to be closely allied to ''

'', and was previously placed in the

Droseraceae Droseraceae is a family of carnivorous flowering plants, also known as the sundew family. It consists of approximately 180 species in three extant genera, the vast majority being in the sundew genus '' Drosera''. The family also contains the wel ...

. Recent molecular and biochemical studies, however, place it in the monotypic Drosophyllaceae, as recommended by the

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) that reflects new knowledge about plant relationships disc ...

, and allied with the Dioncophyllaceae (''

Triphyophyllum ''Triphyophyllum peltatum'' is a facultatively carnivorous,Walker, C. (2023)Triggered by phosphorous 'sic''deficiency.Nature Plants, 9(6), 853-853. up to 60 m tall vineCross, A., Krueger, T., Restoration Ecology Lab, Ecological Health Network ...

'') and

Ancistrocladaceae ''Ancistrocladus'' is a genus of woody lianas in the Monotypic taxon, monotypic family ''Ancistrocladaceae''. The branches climb by twining other stems or by scrambling with hooked tips. They are found in the tropics of the Old World. Classific ...

Classification

The

APG system The APG system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system) of plant classification is the first version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy. Published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, it was replaced by the improved ...

(1998) and

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly Molecular phylogenetics, molecular-based, list of systems of plant taxonomy, system of plant taxonomy that ...

(2003) assign Drosophyllaceae to the order

Caryophyllales Caryophyllales ( ) is a diverse and heterogeneous order of flowering plants with well-known members including cacti, carnations, beets, quinoa, spinach, amaranths, pigfaces and ice plants, oraches and saltbushes, goosefoots, sundews, Venu ...

in the clade

core eudicots The eudicots or eudicotyledons are flowering plants that have two seed leaves (cotyledons) upon germination. The term derives from ''dicotyledon'' (etymologically, ''eu'' = true; ''di'' = two; ''cotyledon'' = seed leaf). Historically, authors h ...

. ''D. lusitanicum'' had previously always been included in the family

, as it catches insects with a method reminiscent of that used by many plants in that family. Recent molecular and biochemical evidence (see th
AP-Website
suggests the carnivorous taxa in the order

(the families Droseraceae, Drosophyllaceae, Nepenthaceae, and the species '' Triphyophyllum peltatum'') all belong to the same

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

, which does not consist only of carnivorous plants, but also includes some noncarnivorous plants, such as those in the family

. Drosophyllum lusitanicum (4).JPG, ''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'' flower Drosophyllum lusitanicum Habitat 2011-4-21 SierraMadrona.jpg, ''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'' in its native habitat in gravel soil The Captured (15232198306).jpg, Detail of the coiling process and mucilaginous glands viscosity Young Drosophyllum (12374955755).jpg, ''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'' seedling (note the pear-shaped seed on the bottom) Drosophyllum lusitanicum Darwin14.png, An illustration of the mucilaginous glands by Darwin

References

External links

International carnivorous plant societyBotanical Society of America, ''Drosophyllum lusitanicum'' Link.
{{Authority control Monotypic Caryophyllales genera Carnivorous plants of Africa Carnivorous plants of Europe Flora of Morocco Flora of Portugal Flora of Spain Caryophyllales