Drosera meristocaulis

Drosera meristocaulis

Drosera meristocaulis is a carnivorous plant in the genus Sundew ( Drosera ). It was first described in 1957 by Bassett Maguire and John Julius Wurdack.

Description

Drosera meristocaulis is a perennial, herbaceous plant with a height of from three to twelve centimeters. This plant forms a rosette when young lying flat on the ground, with age she is still growing in height, forming a multi-branched stem axis. Unlike all other species of section Bryastrum it does not form breeding shed.

At the upper end of the stem axis, the wine-red, up to 1.4 cm long leaves are in a rosette shape, below this the dead foliage hangs down. The petiole is up to one centimeter in length, the elliptical leaf blade is up to four millimeters in length and one millimeter in width.

From February to bloom the way, the flower stems are only up to a millimeter long and wear, rare in sundew species, only a single flower. The petals are up to five millimeters in length, which is inversely egg-shaped petals pink. There you will find three undivided style and three stigmas. The pollen have a central pore. The wide linealischen seeds are just 0.5 millimeters long, provided with a reticulated surface and germinate hypogeous.

Dissemination

The species grows exclusively in Venezuela on Neblina Tepui 1670-2200 m above sea level. NN in open, swampy savannas. It is found, among other things associated with marsh pitchers ( Heliamphora tatei ).

Systematics and Botanical History

The species was first collected in 1954 and 1957 first described, Maguire and Wurdack they classified it into its own section meristocaulis. After (up to two collections made in 1984 and 1985) it was lost a long time, it was found again after several expeditions in late 2004 by the Brazilian botanist Fernando Rivadavia, placed in culture and investigated further. This revealed by molecular genetic studies, surprisingly, that it is part of the section Bryastrum, that their closest relatives are the only occurring in Australia dwarf Sonnentaue.

Evidence

• Correa A., Mireya D.; Silva, Tania Regina Dos Santos: Drosera ( Droseraceae ). In: Flora Neotropica, Monograph 96, New York, 2005, ISBN 0893274631