New Species - Drosera solaris
Species:
Drosera solaris
Locality:
Venezuela and Guyana
Date discovered:
September 2005
Discovery Details
This new species is remarkable in that it forms an upright tower of dead leaves atop of which the young foliage grows (somewhat reminiscent of Drosera roraimae). It also produces splash cups as a mechanism of enabling seed distribution and characteristically consists of spectacular orange, yellow leaves which possess bright red laminas and sticky glue-secreting tentacles. These 'bi-coloured' leaves are unique among all known South American species of Drosera.
The specific epithet 'solaris' denotes the Greek 'sunny' or 'sunloving' which was chosen to illustrate the bright and colourful appearance of this species and the fact that it has so far only been discovered growing in sunny, open glades in clearings within cloud forest habitat.
Drosera solaris occurs only on Mt. Yakontipu at an altitude of 2065 metres above sea level. It appears to be closely related to Drosera roraima, Drosera felix and Drosera kaieteurensis (all of which also occur in the Guiana Highlands).
The formal description of Drosera solaris was published as;
Fleischmann, A., A. Wistuba and S. McPherson., 2007. "Drosera solaris (Droseraceae), a new sundew from the Guayana Highlands". Willdenowia 32(2): 551-555.
Further information and several photos of Drosera solaris feature in Redfern's recently released book title Glistening Carnivores - The Sticky-Leaved Insect-Eating Plants by Stewart McPherson. Glistening Carnivores is available online for immediate dispatch - Please see Redfern book catalogue (left) for more details or to place an order.