Range: extreme southwestern coastal Australia, between Augusta and east of Esperance

 

A coastal plain species, this pygmy sundew lives on sandy substrates above laterite crust along the drier upper borders of winter-wet depressions. Plants rarely reach 2 cm in diameter, with flat rosettes of extremely slender paddle-shaped leaves. Petioles are often less than half a millimeter wide and linear, narrowing toward the rounded, deeply cupped to almost peltate lamina. Coloration is typically bright to deep red throughout, sometimes with a greenish center. Inflorescences rarely exceed 2.5 cm in height, nearly glabrous save a few small glands and bearing up to 8 blooms (though occasionally sport only 1). Flowers themselves are hardly more than half a centimeter in diameter, with broadly obovate petals that range from white to pinkish or salmon-blushed with a darker pink to red midvein reaching halfway from the center. This species can be distinguished from close relatives by its 5-petaled flowers (unlike D. micra and pygmaea) and multi-flowered inflorescences with more robust rosettes.

 

Cultivation: Grow in a 3:1 sand/peat soil, kept moist year round though wetter in winter, with temperatures of 50-70°F in winter and somewhat warmer in summer. Reduce photoperiod to less than 10 hours in winter to stimulate gemmae and flower production. Seeds may require summer stratification or other treatment if produced; sow gemmae on soil surface, and grow in strong artificial light to full sun.

 

Lifespan and reproduction: short-lived perennial. Reproduces through gemmae and rarely seed; may possibly be propagated via leaf pullings.

 

Sources: Lowrie et al. (2017). Drosera of the World Vol. 2. Redfern Natural History Publications.

https://esperancewildflowers.blogspot.com/2014/11/drosera-australis-southern-sundew.html Author William Archer