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.
Droseraceae is a family of carnivorous flowering plants, also known as the sundew family. It consists of approximately 180 species in three extant genera, the vast majority being in the sundew genus Drosera. The family also contains the well-known Venus flytrap and the more obscure waterwheel plant, both of which are the only living species of their respective genera. Representatives of the Droseraceae are found on all continents except Antarctica.
Drosera brevifolia, is a carnivorous plant of the family Droseraceae and is the smallest sundew species native to the United States. This species differs considerably from the pink sundew, Drosera capillaris, by its wedge-shaped leaves, and distinctly deeper red to reddish purple color, noticeable when side by side with D. capillaris.
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.
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.
Drosera adelae, commonly known as the lance-leaved sundew, is a carnivorous plant in the genus Drosera that is endemic to Queensland, Australia.
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.
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.
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.
Drosera hartmeyerorum is a summer-growing annual sundew that is native to the north of Western Australia. It was discovered in 1995 by Siegfried and Irmgard Hartmeyer. Drosera hartmeyerorum has long scrambling leaves which readily curl around any unfortunate insect that lands on the leaves. One major thing that separates this sundew from others are the round yellow trichomes at the base of the leaves. The function of the yellow trichomes is uncertain. Like most sundews, it grows in warm wet, sandy, peaty areas with high humidity and low nutrient levels in the soil.
Drosera pygmaea is a carnivorous, rosette-forming biennial or annual species of herb native to Australia and New Zealand. The specific epithet, which translates as "dwarf" from Latin, is a reference to the very small size of this plant, which grows to between 8 and 18 mm in diameter. Small, pale flowers are produced at the ends of 1- to 3-inch stems. It is perhaps the most well-known of the pygmy sundews.
Drosera filiformis, commonly known as the thread-leaved sundew, is a small, insectivorous, rosette-forming species of perennial herb. A species of sundew, it is unusual within its genus in that the long, erect, filiform (thread-like) leaves of this plant unroll in spirals – an arrangement similar to the circinate vernation seen in ferns.
Drosera cistiflora, also called the poppy-flowered sundew, is a carnivorous species in the sundew family, known for its unusually large flowers. It is native to Southern Africa.
Drosera fimbriata, the Manypeaks sundew, is a perennial tuberous species in the genus Drosera that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows to 10 to 15 cm tall with two or three whorls of non-carnivorous leaves on the lower portion of the stem and 2 to 5 whorls of carnivorous leaves above that. It is native to a region mostly around Manypeaks but with populations near the Scott River and near Denmark. It grows in winter-wet sandy soils in heathland. It flowers in October.
Drosera platypoda, the fan-leaved sundew, is a tuberous perennial species in the genus Drosera that is endemic to south-west Western Australia. It grows 15 to 20 cm tall with a basal rosette of leaves with alternate cauline leaves along the stem. It is native to a region from Manjimup south-west to an area around the Scott River and east to Cape Riche. It grows in winter-wet sandy soils in heathland. It flowers in October.
Drosera macrophylla, the showy sundew, is a perennial tuberous species in the genus Drosera that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows in a rosette with leaves 4 cm (2 in) long and 2 cm (1 in) wide. It is a common species east of Perth. It grows in loam soils. It flowers from June to October. D. macrophylla was first described by John Lindley in his 1839 publication A sketch of the vegetation of the Swan River Colony. In 1992, Allen Lowrie and Sherwin Carlquist described a new subspecies, D. macrophylla subsp. monantha, which is distinguished from D. macrophylla subsp. macrophylla by its single-flowered or rarely biflowered inflorescences. Subspecies monantha is abundant in the Bruce Rock/Merredin region.
Drosera scorpioides, commonly called the shaggy sundew, is a pygmy sundew native to the Jarrah Forest region and southern coasts of Southwest Australia. Notable for its unusually large size relative to other pygmy sundews, D. scorpioides can produce rosettes measuring up to two inches in diameter and specimens may attain a height of up to 100 millimeters. The species is found on white sand and clay, near swamps, on sand ridges, and is associated with laterite. The flowers are pink and white, appearing sometime between August and October. Depending on the form, D. scorpioides can be expected to live up to seven years.
Drosera sulphurea, the sulphur-flowered sundew, is a scrambling perennial tuberous species in the carnivorous plant genus Drosera. It is endemic to Western Australia and is found in coastal areas in sandy loam, often among Cephalotus. D. sulphurea produces small, shield-shaped carnivorous leaves along stems that can be 40–60 cm (16–24 in) high. Yellow flowers bloom in September.
Drosera ultramafica is a species of sundew native to the highlands of Malesia. It is thought to be most closely related to Drosera spatulata, Drosera neocaledonica and Drosera oblanceolata. The taxon is readily distinguished from the former by its general habit and preference for mafic, upland habitats, and from the latter species by specific morphological differences, in addition to the fact that their geographical ranges do not overlap.
Drosera pauciflora is a species of sundew, a carnivorous plant from the genus Drosera. It is native to the Western Cape of South Africa. Drosera pauciflora is closely related to Drosera cistiflora. D.pauciflora produces flowers during the spring on a stem coming out of the centre of the rosette, the flowers are pink.
