Well, here it is:
THE GENLISEA
The genliseas are very hygrophilous terrestrial plants adapted even
to long-time growing under water during shallow flood. They have no
roots and are anchored at substrate with trap leaves. These organs
consist of a stalk, a digestive sac, and a mains neck with two
screw-shaped arms. The trap leaves can be 2.5 - 14 cm long according
to the species. They are embeded in easily permeable substrate or they
lie horizontally on wet ground surface.
The overground leaves are 1 - 5 cm long according to the species and
they are covered with muscilage. They serve for photosynthesis assimilation.
These leaves usually form a dense fringed rosette, or they seldom
grow up from a creeping stem (G.repens).
The genlisea flowers have the 5-pointed calyx, the 2-lipped corolla
with tri-lobed lower lip, and a spur. They mostly looks like butterworts
flowers (the genliseas are related to butterworts). But with the
arrangement of the flowers on long-stalked inflorescence, the genliseas
remind bladderworts most likely. The colour of the flowers is yellow,
yellow-green or violet, the diameter is about 1 cm.
The genliseas grow in continued wet habitats in tropics and subtropics,
therefore they grow all year and don't produce rest stadium. They
usually occur at open formation consisting of short-culm grasses,
cyperaceous plants, further hygrophilous herbs, and light bushy level
of plants. The ground they grow in is unsubstantial, highly sandy and
humous. Together with the genliseas there are often found sundews,
peat-moss and algae in the habitats. The genlisea occur more often in
rocky area at moisty and always wet positions at altitudes about
2.000 - 2.5000 m. Under good conditions of moisture they come down
to substantially lower altitudes (e.g. G.aurea 8000 -2.650 m, G.pygmaea
200 - 1.950 m, and G. repens 150 - 2.200 m).
The Genlisea genus is named after a French writer - a comtesse de Genlis
and was described in 1833. Although it has known to science for long
time, it is the least explored genus among carnivorous plants, and its
ecology is nearly unknown. The genliseas haven't belonged to plants
of collections yet and are nearly inaccessible to growers.
As they are a lot of mistakes in the names of the species, we list all
valid species described till now:
G.africana (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Angola, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast),
G.angolensis (Angola, Zaire), G.aurea (Brazil), G.filiformis (Colombia,
Venezuela, Guayana, Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras), G.glabra
(Venezuela), G.glandulosissima (Zambia, Rhodesia), G.guianensis
(Venezuela, Guayana), G.hispidula (tropical Africa), G.margaretae
(Zambia, Tanzania, Rhodesia, Madagascar), G.pygmaea (Colombia,
Venezuela, Guayana, Brazil, Trinidad), G.repens (Paraguay, Brazil,
Guayana, Venezuela), G.roraimensis (Venezuela), G.sanariapoana
(Venezuela), and G.violacea (Brazil).
(note updated list is in the famous Taylor's monography or in CPN
19/1&2 (1990) as I remember good)
Figure in the page no.99 - Representatives for Polypomholyx and Genlisea
genera. A - P.multifida, B - flowers of P.multifida, C - G.repens,
D - G.violacea (after various authors)
I'm also sending the translation of one of the useful parts of this
book - of the Grower Table (I'm sorry I don't remember page number).
I know we could discuss this table very much, but maybe it will helps
to beginners...
representatives Tl Tz Zl Zz Ol Oz V S P
------------------------------------------------
Nepenthes rajah 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 5 3
(high-land species)
N.rafflesiana 4 4 3 3 2 3 2 5 3
(lowland species)
Sarracenia 4 3 4 3 3 3 1 1 2
(spec.divers.)
S.psittacina 4 3 4 4 3 3 1 1 2
S.purpurea 3+ 2 3 3 2 2 1 1 2
Darlingtonia 3 2 3 3 2 2 1 6 2
Heliamphora 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 4 2
(spec.divers.)
Cephalotus 3 2 4 3 2 3 2 1 2
Byblis gigantea 3+ 2 4 3 3 3 1 2 2
Byblis liniflora 4 - 4 - 3 - 1 2 1
Drosera capensis 3+ 3 4 3 3 3 1 2 3
D.binata 3+ 2 4 3 2 - 1 1 3
D.anglica 3+ 1 4 4 3 - 1 1 3
D.adelae 4 4 4 4 1 1 2 1 3
D.pulchella 3+ 3 4 3 2 3 1 2 3
D.peltata 3+ 3 3 2 3 3 1 2 2
D.erythrorhiza 4 3 1 3 - 3 1 2 2
Drosophyllum 3+ 3 2 2 3 3 1 3 1
Dionaea 4 3 4 3 3 3 1 2 2
Aldrovanda 4 4 5 5 3 3 - 7 -
Pinguicula vulgaris 3+ 1 4 4 2 - 1 1 3
P.gypsicola 3+ 3 4 1 2 3 1 1 3
P.moranensis 3+ 3 4 2 2 3 1 1 3
P.lusitanica 3 2 4 4 2 3 1 1 3
P.lutea 4 3 3 3 2 3 1 1 3
Utricularia australis 4 1 5 5 3 - - 7 -
U.aurea 4 4 5 5 3 3 - 7 -
U.sandersonii 3+ 3 4 4 3 3 1 2 3
U.tricolor 4 3 4 4 2 3 2 2 3
U.alpina 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 5 3
U.longifolia 4 4 3 4 2 2 2 5 3
U.reniformis 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 1 3
Polypompholyx 3+ - 4 - 3 - 1 2 1
(spec.divers.)
Genlisea 3+ 3 4 4 2 3 2 2 3
(spec.divers.)
Key to the table:
Tl and Tz = summer and winter temperatures
1 - cold, -2 - +4 degrees (Celsius)
2 - coolness, 5 - 10 degrees (C)
3 - moderate warmth, 15 - 22 degrees (C), 3+ - higher temperatures
during hot days don't damage
4 - warmth, 18 - 30 (C)
Zl and Zz = summer and winter watering
1 - dry place or damp a bit
2 - damp (soil has crumbled among fingers yet)
3 - wet, good draining
4 - very wet, pots stays in water
5 - an aquatic plant
Ol and Oz = summer and winter lightening
1 - shade, about 5.000 lx
2 - semishade or diffused light, 10.000 - 20.000 lx
3 - maximum possible light in a greenhouse
V = relative air humidity
1 - 60 - 80 %
2 - 80 - 100 %
S = substrate
1 - coarse fibrous peat, pH 5 - 6
2 - peat + coarse-grained quartz sand, 2 : 1
3 - soil of heath + wood coal, 10 : 1
4 - living peat moss
5 - mixture for epiphytes, eg. poplar or oak bark + polstyrene +
roots of ferns or fibrous rest of sieved peat + wood coal,
2 : 2 : 2 : 1
6 - washed (thoroughly) granite bits covered with living peat moss
7 - solution for aquatic plants: boil 1 part of peat with 10 parts
of water, after settlement pour off. Dilute liquid with water
to light brown or yellowish colour and fix pH at 4.5 - 6 with
oxalate acid (I don't know if it's right English name :-( )
P = repotting
1 - it is impossible or it's no need (for short-living species)
2 - repot after more years, only if the substrate is devaluated
3 - repot every year.
Well, it's all for today.
Ivo