Drosera Caduca

Drosera caduca –

is a perennial carnivorous plant that grows on creek water lines in silty, white sandy soil from Bachsten Creek, Edkins Range, Mount Elizabeth, and Prince Regent River Reserve in the region of Kimberley, Western Australia. It is also found growing with eucalyptus trees at the edge of soil depressions in the bottom of sandstone slopes on Augustus Island.

Its glabrous bright green oblanceolate petioles grow one or more rosettes which are both semi-erect and erect. It divides freaquently, and can grow in very large patches. It grows yellowish-green oval traps for the first two months during its juvenile stage of the wet summer months. D. caduca still grows afterwards, but without traps and the petioles are more linaer. Its then that it resembles blades of grass. This lack of sticky traps on the mature adult trait makes it unique within the Drosera genus.

The inflorescence can reach over 20″ in height and have up to 45 white or pink flowers. Flowering occurs from December to July. A few simple hairs are positioned on the scape and on the lower surface of the sepals.

Its name, caduca, Comes from the Latin word “caducas”, meaning: Dropping off early. This is in reference to the absence of the insect-trapping trichomes on all but the juvenile leaves. It grows lamina for the first two months of the wet growing season. This species is not closely related to any other periolaris complex. They can be described as ‘wide leaf’ or ‘narrow leaf’, which is self explanitory.

(Name origin: from the Latin caducus = temporary, referring to the fact that it produces leaves without lamina in the second part of the growing season)