Structural Features of the Glandular Trichomes in Leaves of Carnivorous Drosera anglica Huds.

Carnivorous plants vary in their unique features of morphology, ultrastructure and biochemical properties by species. Furthermore, prey-capturing mechanism as well as structural and physiological adaptations have been used for grouping various carnivorous species. In Drosera plants, glandular trichomes, which develop in the leaf epidermis, are known to play the most important role during the prey capturing process. The present study examined such trichomes, focusing on the glandular type, in leaves of Drosera anglica using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Three types of rudimentary glandular trichomes were found to develop within the folded leaf primordia and immature leaf during early development. The first type, stalked glandular trichomes (Type I), occurred on the margin and upper epidermis of the leaf. With maturation, the longest glandular trichomes having lengthy stalks, ca. , developed along the margin, while shorter stalked trichomes, ca. up to , were found on the inner leaf blade. The shorter ones consisted of a globose head having two layers of secretory cells, parenchyma bell cells and tracheids and a multicellular stalk. The stalks gradually decreased in length in centripetal fashion. The second type, Type II, having ca. short stalks, also developed along the inner blade. Both types secreted mucilage from the secretory cells which had a thin cell wall and cuticle layer. The sessile six-celled glandular trichomes were the third type, Type III, and were in length. They were distributed most commonly throughout the upper and lower epidermis, petiole and even on the stalk surfaces of the first two types of trichomes. The third type was also found to be involved in the active secretion. In prey capturing leaves, all trichome types secreted substances through thin cuticles in the head cell wall, which exhibited relatively loose wall components.