Drosera cucullata — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Identification

An annual sundew of section Arachnopus, the kinship group of Drosera indica. Species of that section have an erect or sprawling stem with long, linear leaves covered along their whole length with stalked glands, and flower racemes opposite the leaves. This species' feature lies in the flower: the stamens are large, red and hood-shaped. Measurements, flower colour and flowering time could not be found in the accessible sources; the measurement fields are left empty.

Similar species

The other northern members of the section, such as Drosera indica in the broad sense, D. aquatica, D. aurantiaca, D. barrettiorum and D. glabriscapa, closely resemble it in growth form. The red, hooded stamens are the distinguishing feature; look for them with a hand lens in an open flower.

The trap and how it works

An active flypaper trap. The long, narrow leaves are full of stalked glands with sticky droplets and work like fine flypapers along the stem. Small insects flying into them get stuck; the tentacles bend towards the prey and digest it with enzymes. For an annual that must complete its whole life cycle in one rainy season, a rapid supply of nutrients matters.

Habitat and ecology

The accessible sources do not describe the habitat. Related annual sundews in northern Australia grow on sandy or loamy soil that is waterlogged in the wet season, in open savanna and along seasonal swamps; codes W7 and B6 are based on that general knowledge and are provisional.

Distribution and elevation

Endemic to northern Australia: the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The species was added to the Western Australian plant census in 2018.

Recorded (quarter-degree cells)

Distribution based solely on records at GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), not on TDWG regions — those are often far larger than the actual range. The light halo is the area around a record, the dark core the record itself. The darker cells are 30 quarter-degree squares in which the species has actually been recorded, from GBIF and only from records accurate to within five kilometres. They show where it has been seen, not where it occurs: an empty square means nothing. For threatened species this layer never goes finer than a whole degree, deliberately.

Forms and variation

No subspecies or varieties have been described. The species belongs to the group that Lowrie split off in 2014 from the broad Drosera indica concept. How well that split holds has been little tested.

Where and when to see it

Search in the wet season, roughly December to April, when the annual sundews come up and flower. Bring a hand lens: the decisive feature is the stamens in the open flower. Allow for flooded roads, crocodiles near open water and the access rules for Aboriginal land.

Conservation status

Assessed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Not in CITES. Little is known about numbers and trends. The source base for this text is thin: Lowrie's original description (2014) is the only good source and could not be consulted for this guide; what is written here rests on the brief data in Wikipedia.

Scientific name

Drosera cucullata | Lowrie, 2013

Described by Allen Lowrie, in "Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus", volume 3, p. 1270 (2013/2014). The precise type locality could not be established. The species occurs from Western Australia to the Northern Territory. From the Latin cucullatus ("hooded") — refers to the large red stamens, described as "hooded like a threatened cobra".

World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.