The Name Game - Part 2

[Not a Number]

Australian Drosera in Cultivation

Allen Lowrie's Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus at time of publication Dec. 16, 2013 listed some 241 species. Many of these were new species or reassignment of ranks (subspecies or varieties). A few had been in cultivation before even having been given a species name. For various reasons some have been in cultivation mislabeled or misidentified. Richard Nunn in the Sept 2015 issue of The Carnivorous Plant Newsletter (v44n3) summarizes the changes in Australian Drosera.

[table="width: 800, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Former Name[/td]
[td]New Name[/td]
[td]Notes[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Drosera dichrosepala[/td]
[td]Drosera verrucata[/td]
[td]The real Drosera dichrosepala has
been recently rediscovered and is not
widely in cultivation.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Drosera parvula[/td]
[td]Drosera minutiflora[/td]
[td]Drosera parvula was an invalid name
and is now in synonymy.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Drosera paleacea subsp.
paleacea[/td]
[td]Drosera micrantha[/td]
[td]The real Drosera paleacea has been
recently rediscovered and is not
widely in cultivation.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Drosera microphylla “white
flowers”[/td]
[td]Drosera esperensis[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Drosera microphylla var.
macropetala[/td]
[td]Drosera calycina[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Drosera menziesii subsp.
penicellaris[/td]
[td]Drosera drummondii[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Photos of the rediscovered "true" species can be found in Lowrie' Magnum Opus, CPN and BobZ's CP Photofinder.

 

[bluemax]

I've got a feeling that at least some of these are disputable but who really wants to wade into those particular waters? Lowrie is a noted splitter and while his work has been ground-breaking and of huge use to all of us who care about the genus Drosera you have to ask yourself - 'are there really that many species of tuberous Drosera?' But being as he is the Man when it comes to the subject it might be awhile before anyone challenges him. He has certainly earned his reputation as the authority on this group of sundews by working so tirelessly to catalog them.