Cultivation of embryos of Drosophyllum lusitanicum link-an insectivorous plant

Abstract

There has been growing interest in recent years in the understanding of nutrition and flowering of insectivorous angiosperms in axenic cultures. This note reports our preliminary results on the cultivation of seeds and embroys of Drosophyllum lusitanicum Link. The seed is pyramidal in shape and has a thick, black seed coat. The mature embryo is small and fully organized. The bulk of the seed is occupied by the cellular, starchy endosperm. Modified White's medium containing 2% sucrose and solidified with 0.8% agar but without IAA served as the basal medium (WB). Mature seeds were surface sterilized with chlorine water and planted on WB as well as on WB + 500 mg/1 each of beef extract, casein hydrolysate and yeast extract separately.