dry season by dying back to an underground rhizome, out of which they emerge come fall. The leaves of this complex can reach in length. The base chromosome count of the complex is x=9; since both species are diploid, their chromosome count is 2n=18. Paleobotany In the year 2004 a single fossil of a seed, resembling that of members of the modern day B. liniflora complex, was discovered in south Australia dating from the middle of the Eocene epoch. The species was assigned to the Byblidaceae as a parataxon of the genus. The sole specimen was unfortunately destroyed in a lab accident shortly after being photographed. Etymology The Latin generic name "Byblis" originates from a goddess from Greek mythology, of whom Ovid wrote in his Metamorphoses (IX, l. 454–664). Byblis, niece of Apollo, fell deeply in love with her twin brother Caunus. At his rejection of her advances, she let forth an endless stream of glistening tears, eventually literally transforming into a spring. The droplets lining the leaves of the Byblis are said to resemble those tears. The English vernacular name - "rainbow plants" - also denotes the mucilaginous droplets which, under the right lighting conditions and viewing angle, sparkle in a rainbow of colors. See also Carnivorous plants of Australia References Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent German-language Wikipedia article (retrieved 1 December 2006). Barthlott, Wilhelm; Porembski, Stefan; Seine, Rüdiger; Theisen, Inge: Karnivoren, Stuttgart, 2004, Lowrie, Allen: Carnivorous Plants of Australia - Vol. 3, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1998 Lowrie, Allen; Conran, John G.: A Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Byblis (Byblidaceae) In Northern Australia, Nuytsia 12(1):59-74, 1998 Lowrie, Allen; Conran, John G.; Moyle-Croft, Jessica: A Revision of Byblis (Byblidaceae) In South-Western Australia, Nuytsia 15(1):11-19, 2002 Conran, John G.; Houben, Andreas; Lowrie, Allen: Chromosome numbers in Byblidaceae, Aust. J. Bot., 2002, 50, 583-586 Hartmeyer, Siegfried: Carnivory of Byblis Revisited—A Simple Method for Enzyme Testing on Carnivorous Plants, Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, 26, 39–45, 1997 Hartmeyer, Siegfried: Carnivory in Byblis Revisited II: The Phenomenon of Symbiosis on Insect Trapping Plants, Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, 27, 110–113, 1998 Plachno, B. J.; Jankun, A.: Phosphatase Activity in Glandular Structures of Carnivorous Plant Traps., Internationaler Botanischer Kongress 2005 in Wien, P1716, The Jagiellonian Univ., Inst. of Botany, Dept. of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Kraków,Poland. Further reading Conran, John G.: The embryology and relationships of the Byblidaceae, Australian Syst. Bot. 9, 243–254,