Sparsely branched, woody, glanduliferous, viscid shrublets or shrubs, with leaves aggregated near tips of branches, trapping but not absorbing contents of insects; root system poorly developed
Leaves
alternate, simple, sessile, flat, linear, lower soon dropping off, margins smooth or with long, filiform teeth, furnished with long, immovable, gland-tipped tentacles, yellowish green; stipules 0
Inflorescence
a few-flowered panicle, pedunculate, flowers solitary or aggregated in axils of linear bracts; pedicels short or long
Flowers
bisexual, regular, hypogynous
Sepals
5, green, free or fused at base, imbricate, glanduliferous, persistent
Petals
5, free, imbricate, broadly ovate or obovate, entire, glabrous, purple or crimson to nearly white, persistent or deciduous
Stamens
5, opposite sepals; filaments distinct, erect; anthers elongate, introrse, incurved in bud, subtended by a basal swelling containing a nectariferous cavity and 2 semifree thecae which open by apical pores, suddenly springing upright and shedding pollen when touched
Ovary
superior, 3-locular, each locule with 1-4 ovules on an axillary placenta; style simple; stigma apical
Fruit
a 3-valved loculicidal capsule
Seeds
fairly large, warty or honeycombed, becoming mucilaginous when moistened, rich in endosperm
Nomenclature:
Roridula
L.
Linnaeus: 567 (1764)
Candolle: 320 (1824)
Endlicher: 908 (1839)
Sonder: 79 (1860)
Marloth: 151 (1903)
Marloth: 59 (1910)
Marloth: 29 (1925)
Diels: 346 (1930)
Obermeyer: 202 (1970)
Dahlgren & Van Wyk: 61 (1988)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa
: Species 2, endemic in SW Western Cape
References:
CANDOLLE, A.P. DE. 1824.
Droseraceae
.
Prodromus
1. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
DAHLGREN, R. & VAN WYK, A.E. 1988. Structures and relationships of families endemic or centered in southern Africa.
Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden
25
DIELS, L. 1930.
Roridulaceae
.
Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien
, edn 2, 18a
ENDLICHER, S.L. 1839.
Droseraceae
.
Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita
2. Beck, Vienna
LINNAEUS, C. 1764.
Genera plantarum
, edn 6. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
MARLOTH, R. 1903. Some recent observations on the biology of
Roridula
.
Annals of Botany
17
MARLOTH, R. 1910. Further observations on the biology of
Roridula
L.
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa
2
MARLOTH, R. 1925.
Roridulaceae
.
The flora of South Africa
2. Darter, Cape Town
OBERMEYER, A.A. 1970.
Roridulaceae
.
Flora of southern Africa
13
SONDER, O.W. 1860.
Droseraceae
.
Flora capensis
1
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