Drosera Falconeri

Drosera falconeri

Described in 1984 by Kondo and Tsang, this is a perennial plant with a rosette of leaves, flattened to the ground, which is up to 8 cm in diameter and comprising red or leaves with a large, reniform lamina up to 1.5 x 2 cm (the largest lamina of the petiolaris-complex sundews).

The lamina has glandular hairs on the upper surface, longer at the edges and shorter in the center while its lower surface is covered with sparse, white hairs.

The petiole is oblanceolate, about 1 cm wide overall, with a mid-rib up to 3.5 mm wide, it is glabrous on the upper surface but is sparsely covered with white hairs, only at the margins, on the lower surface.

During the dry season, to protect from dry conditions, D. falconeri retires just below the ground, forming a bulb-like structure built from the accumulation of the fleshy bases of old leaves.

The inflorescence reaches 8 cm in height and carries a dozen white or pink flowers, each up to 1.4 cm in diameter. In nature flowering occurs at the beginning of the wet season (November-December). The scape and the lower surface of the sepals are covered with short, white hairs.