Roridula gorgonias
| Roridula gorgonias | |
|---|---|
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| photo: Tony Rebelo | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Roridulaceae |
| Genus: | Roridula |
| Species: | R. gorgonias
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| Binomial name | |
| Roridula gorgonias Planch. (1848)
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| Synonyms | |
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Roridula gorgonias is an evergreen, shyly branching, upright shrub of up to about 1 m (3 ft) high, from the family
petals. The plants do not digest the trapped insects, but the bug Pameridea roridulae sucks out their juices and the plant absorbs nutrients from the bug's droppings. It is therefore considered a protocarnivorous plant. It is called Gorgons dewstick,[1] fly bush or fly catcher bush in English and vliebos, or vlieëbossie in Afrikaans.[2] (but these names are also used for its relative R. dentata). R. gorgonias is an endemic species home to the southwest of the Western Cape
province of South Africa.
Description
Gorgons dewstick is a slender shrub growing up to 60–100 cm high. It has fairly stout brownish stems, that show conspicuous horizontal
set alternately and lack both stipules and leaf stalk. The leaf blade is line-shaped, up to 12 cm (6 in) long and ½ cm (0.2 in) wide, tapering towards the tip. It has an entire margin, that carries many with long tentacles topped by teardrop-shaped glands. The upper surface of the leaves is covered with much smaller, shorter tentacles intermingled with white hairs. The lower surface of the leaves is hairless but the on the raised mid-vein is a row of short tentacles. The flowers are set in a spike with a terminal flower, and may consist of up to twelve star-symmertical flowers, each on a short flower stalk with a bract at its base.[3]
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roridula gorgonias.
- ^ "Species dictionary taxonomy: Roridula gorgonias". iSpot.
- ^ "Fly Bush". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.
- ^ "Roridula gorgonias [family RORIDULACEAE]". JSOR Global Plants.
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