[Development and flowering of Pinguicula lusitanica in axenic culture]

Although the first experiments on the feeding of carnivorous plants took place at the time of DARWIN, it has up to now been proved unambiguously only for Drosera and Utricularia that the development of the plants is furthered by the prey of their leaves.In the present work, Pinguicula lusitanica in axenic agar culture showed significantly increased leaf development, more chlorophyll content and a greater number of flowers in response to feeding with Drosophila, egg yolk and ammonium phosphate. The flowering did, however, also occur on a pure mineral medium without supplementary feeding of any materials to the leaves.The feed was digested without the action of microorganisms.