Triphyophyllum
Triphyophyllum peltatum is a facultatively carnivorous, up to 60 m tall vine in the monotypic genus Triphyophyllum in the family Dioncophyllaceae native to tropical western Africa, in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone where it grows in tropical rainforest.
Description
Vegetative characteristics
It is a facultatively carnivorous, heterophyllous, up to 60 m tall vine with glabrous, terete stems. It has a three-stage lifecycle, each with a different shaped leaf, as indicated by its Greek name. In the first stage, T. peltatum forms a rosette of simple lanceolate Dracaena-like leaves about in length with undulate margins. At times when there is insufficient phosphorus in the soil it develops long, slender, glandular, circinate leaves up to in length and bearing two sorts of glands, and resembling those of the related Drosophyllum, which capture insects; there being one to three of these leaves in each rosette. In the plant's adult liana form it has short non-carnivorous leaves bearing a pair of "grappling hooks" at their tips on a long twining stem which can become in length and thick. T. peltatum is the largest of all confirmed carnivorous plants in the world, but its carnivorous nature did not become known until 1979, over 50 years after the plant's scientific description.
Generative characteristics
The axillary, branched, cymose, few-flowered or many-flowered inflorescence bears up to 80 small, ephemeral, fragrant, white to pink, bisexual, actinomorphic, pedicellate flowers. The pedicel is up to 3 cm long. The flower has 5 triangular, 2 mm long sepals, and 5 obovate, 13 mm long petals. The androecium consists of 10 stamens. The style is very short. The up to 4 cm wide, 1-seeded, 4–5-valved capsule fruit bears discoid, papery, flat, winged, circular, pink to red, 5–8 cm wide seeds with an up to 5.5 cm long funiculus extending beyond the fruit. Most of the seed's development occurs outside the fruit. The seeds are wind-dispersed.
Cytology
The chromosome count is 2n = 24, 36.
Taxonomy
Triphyophyllum peltatum was first described as Dioncophyllum peltatum by John Hutchinson and John McEwan Dalziel in 1927. It was moved to a new monotypic genus Triphyophyllum as Triphyophyllum peltatum by Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw in 1952.
Etymology
The generic name Triphyophyllum is derived from triphyes meaning of threefold form, and phyllum meaning leaf. It refers to the three growth stages of the plant with three different types of leaves. The specific epithet peltatum means shield-like and refers to the discoid seeds, which have a long stalk that extends the seed beyond the capsule fruit.
Distribution and habitat
Triphyophyllum is found in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where it occurs in primary and old secondary dry evergreen rainforests. The habitat has a 6–7 month dry season. The acid, nutrient-poor soil is shallow.
Conservation
It is a rare and endangered species.
Cultivation
Triphyophylum peltatum is difficult to cultivate. It is cultivated in several botanical gardens: Würzburg University|Würzburg], Hannover, Abidjan, Bonn, Cambridge University and Würzburg, and is exceedingly rare in private collections.
Uses
Triphyophyllum peltatum is traditionally used in folk medicine in the treatment of elephantiasis, and malaria. It produces many pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites, some of which have been found to have strong antiplasmodial activity. Some metabolites were found to have antitumoral and anti-multiple myeloma activity. The stems are used as tying material.