Drosera meristocaulis
About
This small, rosette- and branched stem-forming sundew is notable for its unique pink flowers with undivided styles, an attribute not found in other nearby species. *Drosera meristocaulis* is wholly endemic to the isolated mountain Pico da Neblina.
Field notes
Morphology
The species produces small clumps of rosettes with red, spathulate leaves 5 to 12 mm long, interspersed with 10 mm long silver stipules. The rosettes are borne on a short, branching stem that can reach heights of about 15 cm. It produces solitary pink flowers, 20 mm across, which are nearly sessile and grow very closely to the leaf rosettes.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to Pico da Neblina, an isolated mountain on the Brazil-Venezuela border. It is found in open bogs savannas, swamps with Heliamphora neblinae, and along streams with Euterpe, at altitudes ranging from 1,900 to 2,200 m.
Ecology
The species' flowers are positioned very close to the glandular trapping leaves, suggesting that its pollinator must be a large enough flying insect to avoid being trapped.
History & etymology
Discovered during a 1953 to 1954 expedition to Pico da Neblina and subsequently described in 1957 by Bassett Maguire and John Julius Wurdack. The species was placed in its own section, Drosera sect. Meristocaulis, and later elevated to subgenus rank.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Australia
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- intermediate