About
This unique species, *Genlisea tuberosa*, is notable for its subterranean, rootlike organs that form distinct tubers, and for possessing the smallest known genome size of any flowering plant (61 Mbp).
Field notes
Morphology
It lacks true roots, instead possessing unpigmented bundles of 'rootlike' subterranean organs, technically leaves, which form tubers.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to Brazil, found in the campos rupestres vegetation across the states of Bahia, Goiás, Distrito Federal, and Minas Gerais, typically growing in fast-draining sandy soils in seasonally wet areas at altitudes between 800 and 1,500 m.
Ecology
It traps, attracts, and digests protozoans using its subterranean organs.
History & etymology
First discovered by Thomas Carow in the late 1980s near Diamantina, Minas Gerais, but was formally described in 2013 by Rivadavia, Minatel Gonella, and Fleischmann after being rediscovered by Fernando Rivadavia in 2007.
Habitat
- Altitude
- —
- Altitude Class
- —
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- intermediate
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