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Drosera brevicornis
Drosera brevicornis is a small perennial member of the D. petiolaris complex from tropical northern Australia. The name means 'short-horned' and refers to a small detail of the flower: horn-shaped projections above the anthers. Although herbarium specimens existed from as early as 1961, the species was formally described only in 1996, by Allen Lowrie.
Identification
A small perennial rosette of leaves with long, narrow stalks and a small round trapping blade with glandular tentacles at the tip — the ground plan of the whole D. petiolaris complex. The inflorescences are tall, 30 to 40 cm, and carry white to pink flowers. The eponymous feature, the short horn-like appendages above the anthers, can be seen only with a hand lens in an open flower. Reliable leaf measurements were not available for this guide; that field is left empty.
Similar species
Its closest relative is Drosera fulva, which also has tall inflorescences but carries reddish-brown hairs and grows around Darwin. D. darwinensis closely resembles D. brevicornis but has much shorter inflorescences of only 5 to 15 cm. D. dilatatopetiolaris has strikingly broadened green petioles. Without flowers, reliable identification within this group is almost impossible.
The trap and how it works
An active flypaper trap. The round blades at the ends of the long stalks carry glandular tentacles with sticky mucilage; small insects landing or crawling over them stick fast, the tentacles bend towards the prey and the glands digest it. As in its relatives, trapping takes place mainly in the wet season, when the plant is actively growing.
Habitat and ecology
Gravelly slopes in open savanna woodland (B6), in places that become wet in the rainy season and dry out in the dry season (W7). In the dry season the plant, like other species of the complex, retreats into a small bud of smaller leaves.
Distribution and elevation
Endemic to northern Australia: the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia. The range description 'tropical northern Australia' fits. Precise range limits and altitudinal limits are not published in the sources consulted; the elevation field is left empty.
- Recorded (quarter-degree cells)
Forms and variation
No varieties are recognised. The species was described in 1996 by Allen Lowrie, in the same publication as several other species of the D. petiolaris complex. Older collections, the first dating from 1961, were kept at the time under other names, chiefly D. petiolaris.
Where and when to see it
Search at the end of the wet season, in March and April, when the tall flowering stems appear, on gravelly slopes in savanna. The flowering stems are easier to spot from a distance than the small rosettes. Take a hand lens to examine the flower; without floral details the species can hardly be separated from its relatives.
Conservation status
On the IUCN Red List the species is Least Concern (LC); it is not listed in CITES. The range lies mostly in little-developed savanna country. Possible local threats are changes in fire regime, grazing and the spread of invasive grasses.
Scientific name
Drosera brevicornis | Lowrie, 1996
Described by Allen Lowrie in 1996, in Nuytsia (journal of the Western Australian Herbarium), volume 11, no. 1, p. 55-69 (species description on p. 56). The precise type locality could not be established. The species occurs in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, "from Palmerston to Kakadu National Park" (NT), on gravel slopes. Latin for "short-horned" — refers to the horn-like projections above the anthers.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.