Drosera monticola — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Drosera monticola — the trap in close-up — **The trap in close-up** · Photo: Em Lamond — CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Drosera monticola — the habitat — **The habitat** · Photo: Em Lamond — CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Identification

A small perennial usually 2 to 7 cm tall, rising from a bright red, globose tuber about 6 mm across. The reddish, circular trapping leaves stand in whorls around the erect stems. Unlike some relatives, the blades cannot fold around a prey item. In October and November a glabrous raceme of pink flowers appears at the top. The plant forms colonies asexually; mature seed has not yet been described.

Similar species

The closest relative is Drosera stolonifera, of which D. monticola was originally a subspecies. D. stolonifera is larger, with two to three semi-erect lateral stems 10 to 15 cm long, and grows in the lowlands and jarrah forest. Given the restriction to the summits of the Stirling Range and the small size, confusion in the field is unlikely.

The trap and how it works

An active flypaper trap. The round blades carry tentacles with a sticky droplet. An insect that lands sticks and the tentacles bend towards it, but the leaf itself does not fold around the prey, as happens in some other members of the section. The catch on the windy summits consists of small flies and other small fry.

Habitat and ecology

Loam that collects in winter on ledges and in hollows in the rock, on the summits in the cloud zone (R3, R1), among low montane heath (B5). For a south-west Australian sundew this is an exceptionally cool and moist setting, with frequent mist and in winter sometimes even snow.

Distribution and elevation

Endemic to the summits of Toolbrunup Peak and Bluff Knoll in Stirling Range National Park, in southern Western Australia. The discoverers consider it likely that the species also grows on other peaks in the range, but herbarium collections exist only from these two summits.

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 2 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

Allen Lowrie and Neville Marchant described the plant in 1992 as Drosera stolonifera subsp. monticola. In 2005 Lowrie raised it to species rank, but without correct citation of the basionym, so the name was invalid. In 2011 Lowrie corrected the error and D. monticola was validly published. The species belongs to section Stolonifera.

Where and when to see it

The climb of Bluff Knoll is a popular, steep walk; the plants grow at the top and flower in October and November. Stay strictly on the track: the summits are fragile, the root rot Phytophthora cinnamomi is a serious threat in the Stirling Range, and boots carrying soil from elsewhere are its main vector. Clean your boots at the wash-down stations at the start of the track.

Conservation status

On the global IUCN Red List the species is listed as Vulnerable (VU). It is not listed in CITES. The entire known range is confined to two summits; the main risks are the root rot Phytophthora cinnamomi, which attacks the montane heath of the Stirling Range, overly frequent fires and trampling along walking tracks. A warming climate may further shrink the cool cloud zone on the summits.

Scientific name

Drosera monticola | (Lowrie & Marchant) Lowrie, 1992

The name was originally published as Drosera stolonifera subsp. monticola by Allen Lowrie and Neil G. Marchant, in Nuytsia, volume 8, p. 326 (1992). Lowrie raised the taxon to species rank in 2005 (Nuytsia 15(3): 365), but that publication was nomenclaturally invalid; the valid publication of Drosera monticola as a species followed only in 2011, in Nuytsia 21(3): 152. The holotype (PERTH 02642964) was collected from the summit of Toolbrunup Peak, in the Stirling Range, Western Australia. The collector and the exact collection date could not be established with certainty, though it is plausible that it was collected by Lowrie and/or Marchant. The name derives from Latin monticola, "mountain-dweller" (from mons, "mountain", and colere, "to inhabit") — a descriptive name matching the habitat of the type material on the summit of Toolbrunup Peak in the Stirling Range.

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