Cephalotus - the Albany Pitcher Plant. 2018. (Reprint 2025).Many col.photographs. X, 142 p. gr8vo. Hardcover.

Cephalotus follicularis - als known ans the Albany pitcher plnat - is instantly recognisable for its distinctive and charismatic insect trapping leaves. Amongst the hundreds of Drosera and Utricularia species is the monotypic genus Cephalotus, with C. follicularis (the Albany Pitcher Plant) its only representative. This remarkable plant is a spectacular example of convergent evolution, being more closely related to cabbages, roses, pumpkins and towering rainforest Elaeocarpus trees than it is to other pitcher plants like Nepenthes, Sarracenia and Heliamphora, yet its pitcher leaves are structurally and functionally similar! Cephalotus is instantly recognisable for its distinctive and charismatic insect-trapping leaves. It is unique amongst carnivorous plants worldwide, being the only carnivorous plant in the rosid clade of flowering plants and the only monotypic family and genus of pitcher plants. Taking into account its extreme genetic and geographic isolation in the southwest of Western Australia, its pitcher leaves represent perhaps the most astounding example of convergent evolution amongst carnivorous plants, their toothed mouths and overarching lids being highly reminiscent of Nepenthes tropical pitcher plants and American pitcher plants alike. Cephalotus is extremely localised, surviving in only a fragment of its historic range as a result of habitat loss, disruption of natural ecological succession, and poaching. This generously illustrated volume documents this remarkable Australian endemic in unprecedented detail, providing the most up to date summary of its status in the wild along with detailed studies of its essential organs.