Byblis

Byblis is a small genus of carnivorous plants, sometimes called the rainbow plants for the attractive appearance of their lovely tentacles in bright sunshine. Native to western Australia, it is the only genus in the family Byblidaceae. The first species in the genus was referenced by the English botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury in 1808. Eight species are now recognized. Byblis are distinguished by their zygomorphic flowers, with five curved stamens off to one side of the pistil. Unlike the sundews, however, Byblis can move neither their tentacles nor the leaves themselves to aid trapping or digestion. As a result, they are grouped among the passive flypaper traps.

All Byblis species are native to Australia. Like many carnivorous plants, Byblis species usually grow in bogs and marshes. They generally prefer seasonally wet sandy soil in partial or direct sunlight with temperatures between ~ 5-40 °C (40-105 °F).

The plants don't actually digest their prey themselves, rather relying on the bugs to do that. The plants, it was reasoned, benefited by absorbing nutrients from the excrement's of the bugs, either through their leaves or through the ground. An indirect digestion of these nutrients by a chitinase producing fungus was even proposed. It wasn't until 2005 that direct digestion of insect prey by enzymes secreted by the sessile glands. These results clearly place this genus among the true carnivorous plants.

The flowers of Byblis start to bloom in early spring and last until late summer