Triphyophyllum
| Triphyophyllum | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Dioncophyllaceae |
| Genus: | Triphyophyllum Airy Shaw |
| Species: | T. peltatum
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| Binomial name | |
| Triphyophyllum peltatum | |
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| Triphyophyllum distribution | |
| Synonyms | |
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Triphyophyllum is a carnivorous plant genus with only one species Triphyophyllum peltatum. It is native to tropical western Africa, in Sierra Leone and Liberia, growing in tropical rainforests.
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 has simple lance-like leaves, and looks nondescript. It then develops long, glandular leaves, like those of the related Drosophyllum. These sticky leaves capture insects. The plant then enters its adult liana form, with short non-carnivorous leaves on a long twining stem.
T. Peltatum is cultivated in only three botanical gardens: Abidjan, Bonn, and Würzburg. It is extremely rare in private collections. This is do to its extreme rarity and cultivation difficulty
Appearance
[change | change source]with a three-stage lifecycle T. Peltatum has a different appearance throughout its life. The first stage, T. Peltatum forms a rosette of simple lanceolate leaves with undulate margins. Because of the limited information and cultivation of T. Peltatum the next 2 stages of the life cycle are hard to study. Another reason for this lack of information is that T. Peltatum is only carnivorous if there is insufficient phosphorous in the soil it is growing in. Leading to difficulty differentiating between life cycles and carnivorous periods. During the second stage of its life or nutrient poor soil T. Peltatum Develops leaves similar to Drosophyllum.