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Triphyophyllum

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Triphyophyllum
Climbing adult Triphyophyllum with hooked leaves
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Dioncophyllaceae
Genus: Triphyophyllum
Airy Shaw
Species:
T. peltatum
Binomial name
Triphyophyllum peltatum
Triphyophyllum is native to Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Dioncophyllum peltatum Hutch. & Dalziel

Triphyophyllum peltatum is a facultatively carnivorous,[2] up to 60 m tall vine[3] in the monotypic genus Triphyophyllum /ˌtrɪfioʊˈfɪləm/ in the family Dioncophyllaceae native to tropical western Africa, in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone[4] where it grows in tropical rainforest.[3]

Description

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Vegetative characteristics

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It is a facultatively carnivorous,[2] heterophyllous,[5] up to 60 m tall vine[3] with glabrous, terete stems.[6] 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 seven inches (18 cm) in length with undulate margins. At times when there is insufficient phosphorus in the soil[7][8] it develops long, slender, glandular, circinate leaves up to fourteen inches (35 cm) 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.[9] In the plant's adult liana form it has short non-carnivorous leaves bearing a pair of "grappling hooks" [10] at their tips on a long twining stem which can become 165 feet (50 meters) in length and four inches (10 cm) thick.[11][12] 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.[5]

Generative characteristics

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The axillary,[13][14] branched,[15] cymose, few-flowered[14] or many-flowered inflorescence bears up to 80 small, ephemeral,[15] fragrant,[13] white to to pink,[15] bisexual, actinomorphic, pedicellate flowers.[14] The pedicel is up to 3 cm long. The flower has 5 triangular, 2 mm long sepals, and 5 obovate, 13 mm long petals.[14] The androecium consists of 10 stamens.[14][6] The style is very short.[6] The up to 4 cm wide, 1-seeded,[14] 4–5-valved capsule fruit[6][14] bears discoid, papery,[14] flat, winged, circular, pink to red,[13] 5–8[6](–10) cm wide seeds[13] with an up to 5.5 cm long funiculus extending beyond the fruit.[14] Most of the seed's development occurs outside the fruit.[16] The seeds are wind-dispersed.[6]

Cytology

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The chromosome count is 2n = 24,[6][14] 36.[14]

Taxonomy

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Triphyophyllum peltatum was first described as Dioncophyllum peltatum Hutch. & Dalziel by John Hutchinson and John McEwan Dalziel in 1927.[1] It was moved to a new monotypic genus Triphyophyllum Airy Shaw as Triphyophyllum peltatum (Hutch. & Dalziel) Airy Shaw by Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw in 1952.[4][1]

Etymology

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The generic name refers to the three very different types of leaf produced by the plant. The species name refers to the fact that the seed stalk is attached to the exact center of the disc-like seed.

Distribution and habitat

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Triphyophyllum is found in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone,[4] where it occurs in primary[6] and old secondary dry evergreen rainforests. The habitat has a 6–7 month dry season. The acid, nutrient-poor soil is shallow.[5]

Cultivation

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Triphyophylum peltatum is difficult to cultivate;[7][17] it is cultivated in four botanical gardens: Abidjan, Bonn, Cambridge University and Würzburg[citation needed], and is exceedingly rare in private collections.

Flower, Fruit and ripe seed of the adult plant
Juvenile non climbing insectivorous stage of Triphyophyllum with entire leaves and a single glandular insectivorous leaf resembling those of Drosophyllum
Unfurling tip of a juvenile insectivorous leaf with stalked glands in the SEM

Uses

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Triphyophyllum peltatum is traditionally used in folk medicine in the tratment of elephantiasis,[14][6] and malaria.[6] 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.[7] The stems are used as tying material.[14]

  • Triphyophyllum compounds; top left: R = -H: Habropetalin A; R = -OH: Dioncophyllin A.; bottom left: Dioncophyllin; bottom right: Dioncophyllin C.
    Triphyophyllum compounds; top left: R = -H: Habropetalin A; R = -OH: Dioncophyllin A.; bottom left: Dioncophyllin; bottom right: Dioncophyllin C.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Triphyophyllum peltatum (Hutch. & Dalziel) Airy Shaw. (n.d.). Plants of the World Online. Retrieved March 28, 2025, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:317595-1
  2. ^ a b Walker, C. (2023). Triggered by phosphorous deficiency. Nature Plants, 9(6), 853-853.
  3. ^ a b c Cross, A., Krueger, T., Restoration Ecology Lab, Ecological Health Network, & Missouri Botanical Garden. (2020, November 26). Save me, Seymour! The increasingly dire plight of Darwin’s “Most wonderful plants in the world.” Natural History of Ecological Restoration. Retrieved March 28, 2025, from https://mbgecologicalrestoration.wordpress.com/2020/11/26/save-me-seymour-the-increasingly-dire-plight-of-darwins-most-wonderful-plants-in-the-world/
  4. ^ a b c Triphyophyllum Airy Shaw. (n.d.). Plants of the World Online. Retrieved March 28, 2025, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:14246-1
  5. ^ a b c Green, S., Green, T. L., & Heslop-Harrison, Y. (1979). Seasonal heterophylly and leaf gland features in Triphyophyllum (Dioncophyllaceae), a new carnivorous plant genus. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 78(2), 99-116.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Porembski, S., Barthlott, W. (2003). Dioncophyllaceae. In: Kubitzki, K., Bayer, C. (eds) Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol 5. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
  7. ^ a b c Winkelmann, Traud; Bringmann, Gerhard; Herwig, Anne; Hedrich, Rainer (2023). "Carnivory on demand: phosphorus deficiency induces glandular leaves in the African liana Triphyophyllum peltatum". New Phytologist. 239 (3): 1140–1152. doi:10.1111/nph.18960. ISSN 0028-646X. PMID 37191044. confirmation of phosphorus starvation to be essential and sufficient
  8. ^ Simons, Paul (17 April 2024). "Plantwatch: why does a rainforest vine turn into a part-time carnivore?". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Triphyophyllum peltatum - Redfern Natural History". www.redfernnaturalhistory.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-19.
  10. ^ "Image of Triphyophyllum leaves". Archived from the original on 2018-02-16.
  11. ^ George Cheer, A GUIDE TO CARNIVOROUS PLANTS OF THE WORLD (Pymble, New South Wales, Aust.: Angus and Robertson, 1992) p. 122.
  12. ^ Slack, Adrian (1980). Carnivorous Plants. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. p. 231-232 (Appendix 2)ISBN= 0-262-19186-5.
  13. ^ a b c d Slack, A. (2000). Carnivorous Plants. pp. 231–232. Vereinigtes Königreich: MIT Press.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Fibres. pp. 438–440. (2012). Niederlande: Prota Foundation.
  15. ^ a b c Triphyophyllum, das Hakenblatt. (n.d.). Gesellschaft Für Fleischfressende Pflanzen. Retrieved March 28, 2025, from https://www.carnivoren.org/karnivoren/gattungen/triphyophyllum/
  16. ^ John Hutchinson and J. M. Dalziel, "Tropical African Plants II" KEW BULLETIN (1928) pp. 31-32. (Under the name Dioncophyllum peltatum).
  17. ^ Bringmann, Gerhard; Schlauer, Jan; Wolf, Kristina; Rischer, Heiko; Buschbom, Uwe; Kreiner, Andreas; Thiele, Friedrich; Duschek, Martin; Assi, Laurent Ake (1999-03-01). "Cultivation of Triphyophyllum peltatum (Dioncophyllaceae), the part-time carnivorous plant". Carnivorous Plant Newsletter. 28 (1): 7–13. doi:10.55360/cpn281.gb418.
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