Triphyophyllum

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
Synonyms
  • Dioncophyllum peltatum Hutch. & Dalziel

Triphyophyllum peltatum is a facultatively carnivorous, up to 60 m (200 ft) tall vine in the monotypic genus Triphyophyllum /ˌtrɪfioʊˈfɪləm/ in the family Dioncophyllaceae native to tropical western Africa, in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone where it grows in tropical rainforest.

Description

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

Vegetative characteristics

It is a facultatively carnivorous, heterophyllous, up to 60 m (200 ft) tall vine with glabrous, terete stems. 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 18 cm (7.1 in) in length with undulate margins. At times when there is insufficient phosphorus in the soil it develops long, slender, glandular, circinate leaves up to 35 cm (14 in) 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. In the plant's adult liana form it has short non-carnivorous leaves bearing a pair of "grappling hooks" at their tips on a long twining stem which can become 50 metres (160 ft) in length and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) thick. T. peltatum is the largest of all confirmed carnivorous plants in the world, but its carnivorous nature did not become known until 1979, over 50 years after the plant's scientific description.

Generative characteristics

The axillary, branched, cymose, few-flowered or many-flowered inflorescence bears up to 80 small, ephemeral, fragrant, white to pink, bisexual, actinomorphic, pedicellate flowers. The pedicel is up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long. The flower has 5 triangular, 2 mm long sepals, and 5 obovate, 13 mm (0.51 in)-long petals. The androecium consists of 10 stamens. The style is very short. The up to 4 cm (1.6 in)-wide, 1-seeded, 4–5-valved capsule fruit bears discoid, papery, flat, winged, circular, pink to red, 5–8 seeds up to 10 cm (3.9 in) wide. with an up to 5.5 cm (2.2 in) long funiculus extending beyond the fruit. Most of the seed's development occurs outside the fruit. The seeds are wind-dispersed.

Cytology

The chromosome count is 2n = 24, 36.

Taxonomy

Triphyophyllum peltatum was first described as Dioncophyllum peltatum Hutch. & Dalziel by John Hutchinson and John McEwan Dalziel in 1927. 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.

Etymology

The generic name Triphyophyllum is derived from triphyes meaning of threefold form, and phyllum meaning leaf. It refers to the three growth stages of the plant with three different types of leaves. The specific epithet peltatum means shield-like and refers to the discoid seeds, which have a long stalk that extends the seed beyond the capsule fruit.

Distribution and habitat

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

Conservation

It is a rare and endangered species, classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Its population is declining, primarily due to habitat destruction from logging and mining.

Cultivation

Triphyophylum peltatum is difficult to cultivate. It is cultivated in several botanical gardens: Würzburg, Hannover, Abidjan, Bonn, Cambridge University and is exceedingly rare in private collections.

Uses

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

Triphyophyllum peltatum is traditionally used in folk medicine in the treatment of elephantiasis and malaria. 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. The stems are used as tying material.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cheek, M.; Hooper, O.; Couch, C. (2025). "Triphyophyllum peltatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2025 e.T85731562A85731586. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2025-2.RLTS.T85731562A85731586.en. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Triphyophyllum peltatum (Hutch. & Dalziel) Airy Shaw". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  3. ↑ Walker, C. (2023). "Triggered by phosphorous deficiency". Nature Plants. 9 (6): 853. Bibcode:2023NatPl...9..853W. doi:10.1038/s41477-023-01450-9.
  4. 1 2 Cross, A.; Krueger, T. (26 November 2020). "Save me, Seymour! The increasingly dire plight of Darwin's "Most wonderful plants in the world."". Natural History of Ecological Restoration. Restoration Ecology Lab, Ecological Health Network, & Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 "Triphyophyllum Airy Shaw". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 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. Bibcode:1979BJLS...78...99G. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1979.tb02188.x.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Porembski, S.; Barthlott, W. (2003). "Dioncophyllaceae". In Kubitzki, K.; Bayer, C. (eds.). Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. 5. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 178–181. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-07255-4_19. ISBN 978-3-642-07680-0.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 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. Bibcode:2023NewPh.239.1140W. doi:10.1111/nph.18960. ISSN 0028-646X. PMID 37191044. confirmation of phosphorus starvation to be essential and sufficient
  9. ↑ Simons, Paul (17 April 2024). "Plantwatch: why does a rainforest vine turn into a part-time carnivore?". The Guardian.
  10. ↑ "Triphyophyllum peltatum - Redfern Natural History". www.redfernnaturalhistory.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-19.
  11. ↑ "Image of Triphyophyllum leaves". Archived from the original on 2018-02-16.
  12. ↑ George Cheer (1992). A GUIDE TO CARNIVOROUS PLANTS OF THE WORLD. Pymble, New South Wales, Aust.: Angus and Robertson. p. 122.
  13. ↑ Slack, Adrian (1980). Carnivorous Plants. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. p. 231-232 (Appendix 2). ISBN 9781899296132.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Slack, A. (2000). Carnivorous Plants. MIT Press. pp. 231–232. ISBN 978-0-262-69089-8.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Fibres. Niederlande: Prota Foundation. 2012. pp. 438–440. ISBN 978-92-9081-481-8.
  16. 1 2 3 "Triphyophyllum, das Hakenblatt". Gesellschaft Für Fleischfressende Pflanzen. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  17. ↑ Schmid-Hollinger, R. "Triphyophyllum peltatum ("Hakenblatt")". Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  18. ↑ John Hutchinson and J. M. Dalziel (1928). "Tropical African Plants II". Kew Bulletin: 31–32. (Under the name Dioncophyllum peltatum)
  19. 1 2 Stach, G.; Timmann, L. (11 February 2006). "Species: Triphyophyllum peltatum (Hutchinson & Dalziel) Airy Shaw, {1952}". Die Karnivoren-Datenbank. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  20. ↑ The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Biology. Niederlande: Academic Press. 2024. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-443-29555-3.
  21. ↑ "-phyllum". Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  22. ↑ "Pelargonium peltatum (L) L'Hér". PlantZAfrica. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ "Mangel weckt den Appetit auf Fleisch". Universität Würzburg (Press release) (in German). 16 May 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2025.