Pinguicula gypsicola

Taxobox
name = "Pinguicula gypsicola"

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = In situ with "Selaginella"
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Lamiales
familia = Lentibulariaceae
genus = "Pinguicula"
species = "P. gypsicola"
binomial = "Pinguicula gypsicola"
binomial_authority = Brandeg., 1911
range_

range_map_width = 250px
range_map_caption = species location

"Pinguicula gypsicola" is an insectivorous plant of the genus "Pinguicula" native to the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, a heterophyllous member of the section "Orcheosanthus". It grows in gypsum soils and forms stemless rosettes of upright, narrow leaves.

Morphology

"P. gypsicola" is a perennial rosetted herb. It is heterophyllous, bearing upright, narrow carnivorous leaves with backward bending margins in the summer, and a tight rosette of small, hairy, non-carnivorous leaves in the winter. As is typical for "Pinguicula", the carnivorous leaves are densely covered with stalked mucilagenous and sessile digestive glands, which serve to trap and digest insect prey and absorb the resulting nutrient mixture to supplement their nitrate-low environment. The carnivorous leaves of this species are bright green to reddish and grow up to 6.5 cm. long.

The 2 cm flowers are purple and are born singly on 9 cm inflorescences. They bloom when the start of summer rains triggers summer growth in June or July.

Distribution and habitat

"P. gypsicola" is known only from a few areas near its type location west of the city of San Luis Potosi. It grows in gypsum slopes accompanied by other xerophytic vegetation such as Cactaceae, "Agave stricta", "Selaginella cuspidata", "Agave striata", "Dasylirion longissimum", "Dodonea viscosa" and "Hechtia glomerata". [Casper SJ (1966). "Monographie der Gattung Pinguicula L. (Heft 127/128, Vol 31). Stuttgart: Bibliotheca Botanica.]

Botanical history

"Pinguicula gypsicola" was first described in 1911 by Townshend Stith Brandegee (1843-1925), a botanist from California.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.pinguicula.org/pages/plantes/pinguicula_gypsicola.htm Description & photos: World of Pinguicula]
* [http://www.carnivorousplants.org International Carnivorous Plant Society]