BSBINews103

Notes - Botany in Literature - 42 / Invasions of angiosperm tissues by filamentous algae 27(6) flies and other small insects: Flies arepresent in Drosophyllum lusitanicum, namedthe 'fly-catcher' by Oporto villagers, who hangthe plant up in their homes for this purpose;ants, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths(Sarracenia, Darlingtonia); protozoa,myxophyceae, desmids, diatoms, Rotatoria,oligochaetes, crustaceae, Diptera larvae, eventadpoles, are found in Nepenthes spp.(7) [Stinging tendril]: Nepenthes spp. have bothfunctional and non-functional tendrils, Droseraand Roridula have tentacles. In Drosera thetentacle heads are glands. The violent whippingback and forth of the stem of a triffid when itssting is extended suggests the plant is topheavy.In Heliamphora a drain-slit counteractsthis.(8) new, close-rolledfrond of afern: True circinationis found in Drosera, outward circinationin Byblis linifolia (c.f. Diels, 1930 (ap. Lloyd)where the leaves are merely spirally inrolled atthe tip), reverse circination in Drosophyllumlusitanicum.(9) poison: Drosera has pear[sac]-shapedmucilage. The formic acid (Drosophyllum)released by ants and stinging neetles is painful.(10) adhesive pads: An adhesive disc is found insome orchids and in the noose of some carnivorousfungi. Some fungi have sticky discs.(11) [Leaves], Leathery: Cephalotusfollicularishas coriaceous leaves. Presumably a triffid'sleaves are cauline, rather than in the form of abasal rosette.(12) pod: Not a feature of carnivorous plants.Wyndham appears to be describing a giant peapod (i.e. legume) or somesuch.(13) [Seeds]: Numerous in Utricularia dunstani,but the testa of Utricularia seeds is generallyreddish or brown. Wynham's seeds, floating asthey do, suggest the pappus of dandelion seedsrather than any seeds produced by carnivorousplants.(14) polysyllabic dog-Latin: Wyndham has gothis wires crossed for, according to R.A. Knox,writing in 1923 (quoted in Steam, 1983: 16-17),'dog-Latin' is Ecclesiastical Latin (not BotanicalLatin) and was used in comparison with theterm 'lion-Latin' which referred to the Latin ofCicero. [With reference to Souchier, BSBINews 101: 32, the citing of the existence of LateLatin in the 3 rd century RC. was a printer's errorand of course should have read 3 rd centuryA.D.]. However, the comment is meant to bescathing, as is the reference to polysyllabic (asthus would any encounter with a name such asPolypodium polypodioiaes be.(15) 'tri': ' ... common usage modified the originallong first 'i' [i.e. as in English like] andcustom quickly wrote in a second 'f, to leave nodoubt about it ... [thus] emerged a handy labelfor an oddity - ... destined one day to be associatedwith pain, fear, and misery - TRIFFID .... '.(Wyndham, p. 31).ReferencesLLOYD, F.E. 1976. The Carnivorous Plants. DoverPublications, Inc., New York [1st ed. 1942, ChronicaBotanica Company, as Vo!. IX of "A New Seriesof Plant Science Books"]'STEARN, W.T. 1983. Botanical Latin. (3rd. ed. rev.).David & Charles, Newton Abbot.WYNDHAM, J. 2000. The Day o/the Triffids. PenguinBooks, London [1st ed. Michae1 Joseph, 1951].Invasions of living and growing angiosperm tissues by filamentousalgaeJACK OLIVER, High View, Rhyls Lane, Lockeridge, Nr Marlborough, Wilts. SN8 4EDAll six colour microphotos (Colour Section,Plate 4) were taken of tissues inside Lemna(Duckweed) roots. Nos CD, @, ~ (+insert) and® were from actively elongating O.5-2cm roots,whereas those of@ and @ were 5-6cm long andpre-senescent. The host plants of CD and @ wereL. minuta, and of @-® were L. minor. All theinfiltrating algal filaments are, I think, from theEntocladia genus, perhaps 2 species, but someof E. endophytica. I also have much inferiormicrophotos of the same filamentous alga(e)invading the roots of L. trisulca and Elodeanuttallii (Nuttall's Waterweed), and have seeninvasion of the underwater stem of the latterspecies.CD The green filaments are starting to formplaques inside the attached Lemna minuta rootcap. This picture is very similar to colourmicrophoto @ in Oliver (2004), from the RiverKennet; but this microphoto is from a differentL. minuta population from a rain-barrel a mileaway, 2 years later. This is one of the rather fewexamples of consistency, as one usually seessomething different through the microscope