Drosera brevifolia
| Drosera brevifolia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Photo taken by Gil Nelson | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons |
| Order: | Nepenthales |
| Family: | Droseraceae |
| Genus: | Drosera |
| Species: | D. brevifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Drosera brevifolia Pursh | |
| |
| Natural range of Drosera brevifolia from USDA NRCS Plants Database. | |
Common name: Dwarf sundew
Contents
Taxonomic notes
Synonym: Drosera leucantha Shinners
Description
Drosera brevifolia is a carnivorous plant.
Generally, for the Drosera genus, they are an "annual or a perennial, rosulate, scapose herbs. Leaves with tentacle-like, glandular trichomes, the glistening, sticky secretion of each gland contributing to the insect-catching function of the leaf, and to the common name. Flowers perfect, actinomorphic, 5-merous; sepals and petals persistent, enclosing the capsule; stamens 5; ovary syncarpous, superior, 1-locular. Capsule valvate, seeds minute."[1]
Specifically, for. D. brevifolia, the species has "leaves that are obovate to spatulate, cuneate, 7-16 mm long including the indistinct petiole. Scape glandular pubescent, 2-6 cm long; pedicels and calyces glandular pubescent; corolla white, sometimes tinged with pink, 5-7 mm long. Seeds black, irregularly obovoid, less than 0.5 mm long, minutely reticulate." [1]
Distribution
Ranges from east Texas to Florida and north to Virginia.[2]
Ecology
D. brevifolia is an insectivorous plant with hairs on the basal leaves that produce a clear sticky liquid that attracts and traps insects.[3]
Habitat
D. brevifolia occurs in moist to wet, sandy or peaty soils. It also seems to prefer more open conditions that provide higher light levels.[4] It can be found in longleaf pine communities,[5] pine-saw palmetto flats, open glades, and at the margins of marshes, grass-sedge bogs, ponds, and swamps. It also occurs in some disturbed areas that are moist and open, including power line corridors, cutover pinewoods, roadside ditches, open fields, and mowed lawns.[4]
Associated species include Aristida stricta, Helianthus radula, H. heterophyllus, Pinguicula lutea, Drosera capillaris, Sarracenia psittacina, Polygala, Pinguicula pumila, Utricularia, longleaf pine, pine, saw palmetto.[4]
Phenology
Flowering has been observed in March through May.[4]
Seed dispersal
It is found in the seed bank of disturbed and non-disturbed sites.[5]
Seed bank and germination
It was found viable and almost ubiquitous in the seed bank of a pine flatwoods community in Florida after more than 30 years of fire exclusion.[6]
Fire ecology
This species occurs in habitat that burns frequently.[4]
Conservation and management
Cultivation and restoration
Photo Gallery
References and notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 516-7. Print.
- ↑ [[1]]Encyclopedia of Life. Accessed: April 29, 2016
- ↑ [[2]]Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Accessed: April 29, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: James R. Burkhalter, Loran C. Anderson, Robert K. Godfrey, Robert Kral, L. B. Trott, Kathy Craddock Burks, Harry Alden, Loran C. Anderson, Douglas Newton, Philip Greear, H. K. Svenson, B. H. Warnock, C. J. Hansen, C. M. Morton, Lisa Keppner, Ed Keppner, D. S. Correll, Helen B. Correll, E. C. Ogden, H. K. Svenson, and A. E. Radford. States and Counties: Florida: Escambia, Gadsden, Liberty, Jackson, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Leon, Bay, Calhoun, Nassau, Wakulla, and Washington. Georgia: Grady, Bulloch, Bartow, and Thomas. Tennessee: Coffee. Texas: Austin, Hardin, and Freestone. Alabama: Lee and Mobile. North Carolina: Hyde.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cohen, S., R. Braham, et al. (2004). "Seed bank viability in disturbed longleaf pine sites." Restoration Ecology 12: 503-515.
- ↑ Maliakal, S.K., E.S. Menges and J.S. Denslow. 2000. Community composition and regeneration of Lake Wales Ridge wiregrass flatwoods in retlation to time-since-fire. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 127:125-138.
