Triphyophyllum peltatum

Triphyophyllum is a monotypic plant genus, containing the single species Triphyophyllum peltatum of the family Dioncophyllaceae. It is native to tropical western Africa, in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia, growing in tropical forests. 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, 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" http://www.carnivoria.eu/photogallery/photos/trip.jpg at their tips on a long twining stem which can become 165 feet (50 meters) in length and four inches (10 cm) thick.George Cheer, A GUIDE TO CARNIVOROUS PLANTS OF THE WORLD (Pymble, New South Wales, Aust.: Angus and Robertson, 1992) p. 122. 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.Sally Green et al, "Seasonal Heterophylly and Leaf Gland Features in Triphyophyllum (Dioncophyllaceae)", BOT. JOURNAL LINNEAN SOC. LONDON Vol. 78 # 2 (February 1979) pp. 99-116. Its seeds are about 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter, bright red in color, disc-shaped, with a peltate stalk emerging from the fruit. Most of the seed's development occurs outside the fruit.John Hutchinson and J. M. Dalziel, "Tropical African Plants II" KEW BULLETIN (1928) pp. 31-32. (Under the name Dioncophyllum peltatum). 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, Bonn, and Würzburg. It is exceedingly rare in private collections. ''Triphyophyllum'' compounds; top left: R = -H: Habropetalin A; R = -OH: Dioncophyllin A.; bottom left: Dioncophyllin; bottom right: Dioncophyllin C.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.