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Pictures from our USB-microscope © I. + S. Hartmeyer		Zur deutschen Sprache wechseln
Most of the shown pictures have been made with our USB-microscope (since 2002) which is plugged in by USB connection to our computer. Illumination is integrated. The resolution was first only low, but actually - after looking at diverse samples - we found it good enough to discover interesting details. Since 2005 we use a microscope with much better resolution. The Snap-Tentacles of Drosera glanduligera LEHM. When we saw a first video by Richard Davion (Australia) we nearly could not believe our eyes, but after three years of cultivation and examination at our greenhouse it was fully confirmed: the elongated marginal tentacles of this annual sundew snap in with only about 0.15 seconds at room temperature. That exceeds the speed of i.e. D. burmannii 100 fold! This sensational feature of D. glanduligera has not been mentioned in the botanical description and later literature before our publication in (Das Taublatt 2005), therefore it has certainly been overlooked. This story fits actually perfect into our 1994 started (and partly interrupted) examination of the world-wide occurence of rapid moving marginal tentacles in the genus Drosera. The shown microscope pictures are also part of our DVD documentation "DROSERA: Snap-Tentacles And Runway Lights".

From the left: Drosera glanduligera snaps in it's elongated gland-free tentacles within about 0.15 seconds, after the tentacle head has been touched. The snap-tentacles consist of a broader lower part and a thin upper part, which moves at the connection of both that works like an articulation. Picture 2 and 3 show the unique tentacle from the side, picture 4 shows the articulation at the left and the lower side of the head in the middle. Picture 4 shows a broken tentacle. If the snap-tentacle is moved laterally, the upper part breaks away at the articulation.
	Left: Under lateral preasure the snap-tentacle breaks apart at the "joint". Such a snap-mechanism is only known from D. glanduligera.	Right: A screenshot from our DVD shows how simmilar the snap-tentacles of pygmy-drosera appear on a first glance. But the articulation is missing and their movement is minimum 50 fold slower and works with turgor growth.
For documentation some more pictures of snap-tentacles (glandless marginal tentacels)

Drosera aliciae	Drosera binata (seedling)	Drosera cistiflora	Drosera hamiltonii

Drosera rotundifolia x spatulata	Drosera montana	Drosera occidentalis	Drosera venusta

Drosera burmannii	Drosera hamiltonii	Drosera spec. Mantalingajan	Drosera sessilifolia

The yellow lens-haeded tentacles of Drosera hartmeyerorum SCHLAUER

Drosera hartmeyerorum SCHLAUER	Leafbase, clearly visible are the yellow emergences	Lens headed tentacle (200 x)
	Left: Emergences after two days drying at room temperature (200 x). The walls of the shrinking giant-cell are colouless and transparent. Only the massive centre is intensively yellow coloured. Right: Side view of a juvenile plant, developing the first emergences.
		Left: Photos by Dr. Barry A. Rice, achieved with a special lens combination.
Right: These pictures were made with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) by Dr. Regina Kettering, during our common project with Prof. Dr. Stephen Williams at the Lebanon Valley College, USA. The honeycomb lens-structure consists of giant cells and is clearly hollow, as the collapsed cell on the left photo shows. Their transparancy cannot be seen with this method, because the surface of the specimen - which had been prepared with glutaradehyde before - was additionally covered with metal atoms.
Emergences on varieties (?) of Drosera indica L.
		Left: Drosera indica variety with red emergences at the lower leafside. The same plant possesses also red emergences at the developing flower-buds. (both photos with the kind permission by Jeremy Fuqua)
	Right: mucilage tentacles of Drosera indica Left: Up to 1 mm small emergences of Drosera indica (photo: Denis Barthel, for Wikipedia)

Upper two pics on the left: Minute emergences on varieties of Drosera indica from the Kimberley region in Australia. The heads of these emergences are also yellow, but not honeycomb shaped like those on D. hartmeyerorum, they show a simple hemisphere shaped structure, which may be up to 1 mm small on some varieties (see above). They are mostly scattered over the whole leaf surface and/or even over the stem. Upper picture right: Minute emergences on varieties of Drosera indica from the southern Africa. The heads are disc shaped, translucend and colourless.

A comparing look at the seeds shows also a clear difference in size and pattern between D. indica (left) and D. hartmeyerorum (right).

our CP-collection	plant offers	articles and reports
Modern and archaic tentacles (new report)	Home	Snap-Tentacles
Drosera hartmeyerorum lens tentacles article	Home	Nepenthes@Borneo Exotics pics