''Drosera erythrorhiza'', the red ink sundew, is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduc ...

ous species in the

carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods, and occasionally small mammals and birds. They have adapted to grow in waterlo ...

genus ''

Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

'' that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It grows in a

rosette Rosette is the French diminutive of ''rose''. It may refer to: Flower shaped designs * Rosette (award), a mark awarded by an organisation * Rosette (design), a small flower design *hence, various flower-shaped or rotational symmetric forms: ** R ...

and is distinguished from the other species in section '' Erythrorhiza'' by its many-flowered cymose

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s with up to 50 individual flowers. ''D. erythrorhiza'' was first described by

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

in his 1839 publication ''

A sketch of the vegetation of the Swan River Colony "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony", also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Sketch Veg. Swan R.'', is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony. Nearly 300 new species were published in it ...

''. In 1992, N. G. Marchant and

Allen Lowrie Allen Lowrie (10 October 1948 - 30 August 2021) was a Western Australian Botany, botanist. He was recognised for his expertise on the genera ''Drosera'' and ''Stylidium''.Council of Heads of Australasian HerbariaResources of Australian Herbaria: W ...

described three new

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

, thus also creating the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

''D. erythrorhiza'' subsp. ''erythrorhiza''.Marchant, N. and A. Lowrie. 1992. New names and new combinations in 34 taxa of Western Australian tuberous and pygmy ''Drosera''. ''Kew Bulletin'', 47(2): 315-328. The subspecies were separated from this variable species mostly by

leaf morphology The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

and distribution.Rice, Barry. 2008
The tuberous rosetted ''Drosera''
The Carnivorous Plant FAQ v. 11.5. Accessed online: 21 February 2009. ''D. erythrorhiza'' subsp. ''collina'' is named for its native hilly habitat and typically has more leaves of various shapes within the same rosette. ''D. erythrorhiza'' subsp. ''erythrorhiza'' has fewer, wider leaves as compared to ''D. erythrorhiza'' subsp. ''magna'', which has larger (wider) leaves and frequently has more of them. Finally, ''D. erythrorhiza'' subsp. ''squamosa'' was originally described by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

in 1864 at the species rank as ''Drosera squamosa''. Marchant and Lowrie reduced it to the subspecies rank under ''D. erythrorhiza''. Subspecies ''squamosa'' differs from subsp. ''erythrorhiza'' in the appearance of red leaf margins caused by the dense red

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s. Earlier, in his 1906 taxonomic monograph of the

Droseraceae Droseraceae is a family of carnivorous flowering plants, also known as the sundew family. It consists of approximately 180 species in three extant genera, the vast majority being in the sundew genus '' Drosera''. The family also contains the wel ...

Ludwig Diels Friedrich Ludwig Emil Diels (24 September 1874 – 30 November 1945) was a German botanist. Diels was born in Hamburg, the son of the classical scholar Hermann Alexander Diels. From 1900 to 1902 he traveled together with Ernst Georg Pritzel thro ...

introduced a new

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, ''D. erythrorhiza'' var. ''imbecilla''.Diels, L. 1906. Droseraceae ''In'' Engler, A. ''Das Pflanzenreich''. IV. 112. A competing taxonomy was developed and introduced by Jindřich Chrtek and Zdeňka Slavíková in 1999 where the authors argue for the reclassification of the tuberous ''Drosera'' (encompassing all of ''Drosera'' subgenus '' Ergaleium'') into

Johann Georg Christian Lehmann Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (25 February 1792 – 12 February 1860) was a German botanist. Born at Haselau, near Uetersen, Holstein, Lehmann studied medicine in Copenhagen and Göttingen, obtained a doctorate in medicine in 1813 and a do ...

's 1844 genus ''Sondera'' that had been reduced to a synonym of ''Drosera''. In doing so, Chrtek and Slavíková elevated Marchant and Lowrie's subspecies and established the following species: ''Sondera collina'', ''S. erythrorhiza'', ''S. magna'', and ''S. squamosa''.Chrtek, J. and Z. Slavíková. 1999. Genera and families of the Droserales order. Novit. Bot. Univ. Carol. 13: 39-46. This reclassification, however, is not widely followed.

References

External links

* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q5308518 Carnivorous plants of Australia Caryophyllales of Australia erythrorhiza Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1839