''Triphyophyllum'' is a monotypic

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

, containing the single species ''Triphyophyllum peltatum'' of the family

Dioncophyllaceae The Dioncophyllaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of three species of lianas native to the rainforests of western Africa. Their closest relatives are Ancistrocladaceae. Both families lie within a clade of mostly ...

. It is native to tropical western

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, in Ivory Coast,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

and Liberia, growing in

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fore ...

s. It is a liana, with 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 leaves with undulate margins. It then develops long, slender, glandular leaves, resembling those of the related ''

Drosophyllum ''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'' (the sun ...

'', which capture insects; one to three of these leaves in each rosette. The plant then enters its adult liana form, with short non-carnivorous leaves bearing a pair of " grappling hooks" at their tips on a long twining stem which can become 165 feet (50 meters) in length and four inches (10 cm) thick. ''T. peltatum'' is the largest of all confirmed carnivorous plants in the world, but its carnivorous nature did not become known until 1979, some 51 years after the plant's discovery. Its seeds are about 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter, bright red in color, disc-shaped, with a

peltate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

stalk emerging from the fruit. Most of the seed's development occurs ''outside'' the fruit. The fruit and seed develop from an orange flower with five incurved petals. As the seed dries out, its wide umbrella shape enables it to be transported on the wind. ''Triphyophylum peltatum'' is currently cultivated in three botanical gardens:

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

. It is exceedingly rare in private collections. Image:Triphyophyllum compounds.svg, ''Triphyophyllum'' compounds; top left: R = -H: Habropetalin A; R = -OH: Dioncophyllin A.; bottom left: Dioncophyllin; bottom right: Dioncophyllin C.

References

* Bringmann, G., H. Rischer, J. Schlauer, K. Wolf, A. Kreiner, M. Duschek & L.A. Assi 2002. ''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The newsle ...

'' 31(2): 44–52. * Bringmann, G., J. Schlauer, K. Wolf, H. Rischer, U. Buschbom, A. Kreiner, F. Thiele, M. Duschek & L.A. Assi 1999. ''

'' 28(1): 7–13. * Bringmann, G., M. Wenzel, H.P. Bringmann & J. Schlauer 2001. ''

'' 30(1): 15–21. * Jonathan 1992. ''

'' 21(3): 51–53. * Rice, B. 2007. Carnivorous plants with hybrid trapping strategies. ''

'' 36(1): 23–27. * Simons, P. 1981. ''

'' 10(3): 65–68, 79–80.

References

External links

The Carnivorous Plant FAQ: About ''Triphyophyllum''
Caryophyllales Carnivorous plants of Africa Flora of Africa Monotypic Caryophyllales genera {{Caryophyllales-stub