Drosera glabriscapa — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Identification

An annual sundew of section Arachnopus, the kinship group of Drosera indica. Species of that section have an erect or sprawling stem with long, linear leaves covered along their whole length with stalked glands, and flower racemes opposite the leaves. The feature giving the species its name is the bare, hairless flowering stem; the name implies that related species are hairy or glandular there. Measurements, flower colour and flowering time could not be found in the accessible sources; the measurement fields are left empty.

Similar species

The other northern members of the section, such as Drosera indica in the broad sense, D. aquatica, D. aurantiaca, D. barrettiorum and D. cucullata, closely resemble it in growth form. The glabrous scape is the feature on which Lowrie separated the species; examine the stem below the flowers with a hand lens.

The trap and how it works

An active flypaper trap. The long, narrow leaves carry dozens of stalked glands with sticky droplets and work like flypapers along the stem. Small insects landing on them stick; the tentacles bend towards the prey and the glands secrete digestive enzymes. For an annual that completes its whole life in one wet season, a rapid supply of nutrients matters.

Habitat and ecology

The accessible sources do not describe the habitat. Related annual sundews in the Kimberley grow on sandy or loamy soil that is waterlogged in the wet season, in open savanna and along seasonal swamps; codes W7 and B6 are based on that general knowledge and are provisional.

Distribution and elevation

Endemic to the Kimberley, in the tropical north of Western Australia. The species has been in the Western Australian plant census since 2018. A more precise distribution was not available.

Recorded (one-degree cells)

Distribution based solely on records at GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), not on TDWG regions — those are often far larger than the actual range. The light halo is the area around a record, the dark core the record itself. The darker cells are 5 one-degree squares — roughly a hundred and ten kilometres — in which the species has been recorded, from all GBIF records. This is coarser than for most species because hardly any record of this plant carries an accurate coordinate: the locality of poached species is obscured at source. At this scale that obscuring disappears into the noise. The cells show where it has been seen, not where it occurs: an empty square means nothing.

Forms and variation

No subspecies or varieties have been described. The species belongs to the series Lowrie split off in 2014 from the broad concept of Drosera indica; the boundaries between these species have been little tested by others.

Where and when to see it

Search in the wet season, roughly December to April, when annual sundews come up and flower in the Kimberley. Bring a hand lens to examine the flowering stem. Allow for flooded roads, crocodiles near open water and the access rules for Aboriginal land.

Conservation status

Assessed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Not in CITES. Little is known about numbers and trends. The source base for this text is thin: Lowrie's original description (2014) is the only good source and could not be consulted for this guide; what is written here rests on the brief data in Wikipedia.

Scientific name

Drosera glabriscapa | Lowrie, 2013

Described by Allen Lowrie, in "Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus", volume 3, p. 1271 (formal publication date 2013, issued 2014). The precise type locality could not be established. Given Lowrie's other recent Western Australian species, Western Australia seems likely, though this is not confirmed. From the Latin glaber ("hairless, smooth") and scapus ("flower stalk") — refers to the hairless flower stalk of this species.

World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.