Drosera arcturi

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Drosera arcturi
DroseraArcturi2.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Droseraceae
Genus: Drosera
Subgenus: Drosera subg. Arcturia
Species:
D. arcturi
Binomial name
Drosera arcturi
Drosera arcturi.svg
Distribution within Australia
Synonyms
  • Drosera atraCol. ex Cheesem.
  • Drosera ligulataCol. ex Cheesem.
  • Drosera polyneuraCol.
  • Drosera ruahinensisCol.

Drosera arcturi is a perennial, insectivorous species of sub-alpine or alpine herb native to Australia and New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's two alpine species of sundew, the other being Drosera stenopetala . The specific epithet, which translates as "of Arthur" from Latin, is a reference to Mount Arthur, in north-eastern Tasmania, the type locality of the species. [1] [2]

Drosera arcturi grows in bogs, tarns and seepages, most commonly at montane or alpine elevations and is also commonly found in Sphagnum bogs. It is found in alpine areas from the East Cape of the North Island, New Zealand, southwards to Stewart Island, New Zealand. It is found above 1500m altitude in the North Island, descending to sea level in the South Island. It is also found in the mountains of southeastern Australia and in Tasmania, where it is occasionally found growing down to sea level in the west and south-west of the island. In New Zealand, D. arcturi is often found growing in clumps alongside Utricularia dichotoma . [3]

The leaves of D. arcturi are linear, 1–5 cm long, undivided, and range in colour from pale green to muddy brown, to maroon if subjected to full sunlight. Like all other species of Drosera, D. arcturi catches insects using sticky, glandular hairs on its leaves. In D. arcturi, these glandular hairs are red. Young leaves begin at the center of the plant and are folded along their center. Once the young leaf reaches full maturity it unfolds like a book. [3]

A carpet of Drosera arcturi growing in shallow water in a creek bed near Lake Pedder, Tasmania, Australia. Drosera arcturi Lake Pedder Tasmania.jpg
A carpet of Drosera arcturi growing in shallow water in a creek bed near Lake Pedder, Tasmania, Australia.

The plants' first upright leaves emerge in spring. After two or three leaves have formed, the nominal form produces a small, solitary white flower, 13 mm across, which is borne on a short stalk in summer, and positioned near the top of the leaves. The giant, lowland form produces 1–5 flowers on a long inflorescence up to 25 cm long. Flowers are present from November to February and fruits are present in January–March. [3]

D. arcturi is a summer grower, and after flowering its leaves gradually reduce in size to form an elongated, horn-shaped hibernaculum. In this form it passes the cold, harsh alpine winters. The hibernaculum is normally buried near the surface of the soil or moss and is usually covered with snow for several months during winter. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Drosera</i> Genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Droseraceae

Drosera, which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow. Various species, which vary greatly in size and form, are native to every continent except Antarctica.

<i>Drosera capillaris</i> Species of carnivorous plant native to subtropical to tropical North and South America

Drosera capillaris, also known as the pink sundew, is a species of carnivorous plant belonging to the family Droseraceae. It is native to the southern United States, the Greater Antilles, western and southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It is listed as vulnerable in the US state of Virginia, and critically imperiled in Arkansas, Maryland, and Tennessee.

<i>Drosera capensis</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera capensis, commonly known as the Cape sundew, is a small rosette-forming carnivorous species of perennial sundew native to the Cape in South Africa. Because of its size, easy-to-grow nature, and the copious amounts of seed it produces, it has become one of the most common sundews in cultivation, and thus, one of the most frequently introduced and naturalised invasive Drosera species.

<i>Drosera rotundifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the sundew family Droseraceae

Drosera rotundifolia, the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribution, being found in all of northern Europe, much of Siberia, large parts of northern North America, Korea and Japan but is also found as far south as California, Mississippi and Alabama in the United States of America and in New Guinea.

<i>Drosera spatulata</i> Species of plant

Drosera spatulata, the spoon-leaved sundew, is a variable, rosette-forming sundew with spoon-shaped leaves. The specific epithet is Latin for "spatula shaped," a reference to the form of the leaves. This sundew has a large range and occurs naturally throughout Southeast Asia, southern China and Japan, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, eastern Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. Variants are often known by the localities in which they are found. The plant does not form hibernacula in winter, and is easily grown using the same methods as Drosera capensis.

<i>Drosera regia</i> Species of carnivorous plant in the family Droseraceaea endemic to a single valley in South Africa

Drosera regia, commonly known as the king sundew, is a carnivorous plant in the sundew genus Drosera that is endemic to a single valley in South Africa. The genus name Drosera comes from the Greek word droseros, meaning "dew-covered". The specific epithet regia is derived from the Latin for "royal", a reference to the "striking appearance" of the species. Individual leaves can reach 70 cm (28 in) in length. It has many unusual relict characteristics not found in most other Drosera species, including woody rhizomes, operculate pollen, and the lack of circinate vernation in scape growth. All of these factors, combined with molecular data from phylogenetic analysis, contribute to the evidence that D. regia possesses some of the most ancient characteristics within the genus. Some of these are shared with the related Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), which suggests a close evolutionary relationship.

<i>Drosera peltata</i> Species of plant

Drosera peltata, commonly called the shield sundew or pale sundew, is a climbing or scrambling perennial tuberous species in the carnivorous plant genus Drosera. Among the tuberous sundews, D. peltata has the largest distribution, which includes eastern and western Australia, New Zealand, India, and most of Southeast Asia including the Philippines. The specific epithet is Latin for "shield shaped", a reference to the shape of the cauline leaves. It is either a single extremely variable species, or a complex of several closely related species of uncertain taxonomic boundaries. In Australia at least four forms have had or still have specific taxonomic recognition: Drosera peltata subsp. peltata, D. peltata subsp. auriculata, D. foliosa and D. gracilis.

<i>Drosera anglica</i> Species of carnivorous flowering plant in the family Droseraceae

Drosera anglica, commonly known as the English sundew or great sundew, is a carnivorous flowering plant species belonging to the sundew family Droseraceae. It is a temperate species with a circumboreal range, although it does occur as far south as Japan, southern Europe, and the island of Kauai in Hawaii, where it grows as a tropical sundew. It is thought to originate from an amphidiploid hybrid of D. rotundifolia and D. linearis, meaning that a sterile hybrid between these two species doubled its chromosomes to produce fertile progeny which stabilized into the current D. anglica.

<i>Drosera binata</i> Species of plant

Drosera binata, commonly known as the forked sundew or fork-leaved sundew. It is a large, perennial sundew native to Australia and New Zealand. The specific epithet is Latin for "having pairs" - a reference to the leaves, which are dichotomously divided or forked.

<i>Drosera intermedia</i> Species of carnivorous flowering plant in the family Droseraceae

Drosera intermedia, commonly known as the oblong-leaved sundew, spoonleaf sundew, or spatulate leaved sundew, is an insectivorous plant species belonging to the sundew genus. It is a temperate or tropical species native to Europe, southeastern Canada, the eastern half of the United States, Cuba, Hispaniola, and northern South America.

<i>Drosera stenopetala</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera stenopetala is an insectivorous, rosette-forming perennial sub-alpine or alpine herb. The specific epithet means "with narrow petals", which is somewhat misleading given that the petals of this plant are fairly wide. A species of sundew, it is unique within its genus in being endemic to New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's two alpine species of Drosera, the other being Drosera arcturi. Characteristic features include involute petioles and upright leaves. Its range extends from the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges in the north down the Southern Alps to Stewart Island. It is also found on the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island.

<i>Drosera linearis</i> Species of carnivorous flowering plant in the family Droseraceae

Drosera linearis, commonly called the slenderleaf sundew, is a sundew found in the Great Lakes region of North America, in Canada and the United States, such as Michigan, and in Montana. It is usually no more than four inches tall.

<i>Drosera glanduligera</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera glanduligera, commonly known as the pimpernel sundew or scarlet sundew, is a species of carnivorous plant endemic to southern Australia. It is an ephemeral annual plant that grows in the winter and flowers from August to November.

<i>Drosera meristocaulis</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera meristocaulis is a perennial species in the carnivorous plant genus Drosera, the only member of the subgenus Meristocaulis. It is a small, rosette- and branched stem-forming sundew that has many morphological affinities to the Australian pygmy sundews. D. meristocaulis is wholly endemic to Pico da Neblina, an isolated mountain on the Brazil-Venezuela border.

<i>Drosera falconeri</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera falconeri is a carnivorous plant in the family of Droseraceae. It is endemic to the Northern Territory of Australia.

Drosera peruensis is a carnivorous plant of the genus Drosera, commonly known as the Peruvian sundew. This Drosera species was first identified in Peru in 2002 by Tânia Regina dos Santos Silva and Mireya D. Correa following work to update the genus Drosera for the reference text, Flora Neotropica..

<i>Pinguicula lutea</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula lutea, commonly known as the yellow butterwort, is a species of warm-temperate carnivorous plant in the family Lentibulariaceae. It grows in savannas and sandy bog areas of the Southeastern United States.

<i>Drosera graomogolensis</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera graomogolensis is a carnivorous plant species native to the State Minas Gerais in Brazil and is now cultivated as an ornamental in Europe. In Brazil, it grows in the campos rupestres habitat.

<i>Drosera murfetii</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera murfetii is a species of the carnivorous sundew family, and is endemic to western Tasmania, Australia. Although similar in appearance to its close relative, D. arcturi, this species is distinct in that it tends to possess only one or two carnivorous leaves, the rest being non-carnivorous. Other features that distinguish it from D. arcturi are its larger size and tendency to produce more flowers per scape.

<i>Astelia alpina</i> Species of flowering plant

Astelia alpina called pineapple grass, silver astelia, or perching lily is a commonly found species in alpine and subalpine areas of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. It is a perennial herb that typically dominates its environment by growing in dense clusters, called mats, in alpine bogs. There are two subspecies: Astelia alpina var. novae hollandiae from New South Wales and Victoria and Astelia alpina var. alpina endemic to Tasmania. Both subspecies appear very similar to each other. The species was originally described by Robert Brown.

References

  1. A.F. Mark and Nancy M. Adams, "New Zealand Alpine Plants", Reed, 1973
  2. Bruce Salmon, "Carnivorous Plants of New Zealand". Ecosphere Publications, 2001.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Pietropaolo, J. & P. Pietropaolo. 1986. Carnivorous Plants of the World. Timber Press, Inc.