All species › Caryophyllales › Sundew family › Drosera solaris
Drosera solaris
A relatively recently discovered sundew of the table mountains of Guyana. Drosera solaris was described in 2007 in the Berlin journal Willdenowia by Andreas Fleischmann, Andreas Wistuba and Stewart McPherson. Note the authorship: the species list for this guide names only Wistuba and McPherson, but in the original publication Fleischmann is first author. The paper is still practically the only source on the species.
No photograph of this species under a Creative Commons licence or in the public domain is in the guide yet.
Identification
A perennial rosette plant whose leaves turn bright red in full sun and are densely set with tentacles, so that the rosette seems to glow in sunlight. According to the description it is most closely related to Drosera felix and Drosera kaieteurensis, but more robust than those tiny species. Exact measurements and a confirmed flower colour could not be checked here; the size fields are left empty.
Similar species
The closest relatives are Drosera kaieteurensis and Drosera felix, both minute red rosettes of the Guiana Shield. Other tepui sundews, such as Drosera roraimae with its long petioles and Drosera hirticalyx with a hairy calyx, have a different leaf shape. Without the original description and a hand lens, a confident field identification is difficult.
The trap and how it works
An active flypaper trap. The tentacles catch small insects attracted by the red colour and glistening droplets; the surrounding tentacles then bend towards the prey. On the bare, extremely nutrient-poor sandstone plateaus that supply of nitrogen and phosphorus is essential.
Habitat and ecology
High, open, wet places on the sandstone plateaus of the tepuis: bare rock, seeping rock slabs and boggy sandy ground in low, open vegetation (R5, R1, W4). The climate is cool, misty and very wet. A reliable altitudinal range could not be checked.
Distribution and elevation
The highlands of Guyana; as far as known endemic to that country and confined to one or a few table mountains. Given the difficult terrain it cannot be ruled out that the species also occurs on neighbouring tepuis, possibly across the border with Venezuela or Brazil.
- Native
Forms and variation
No varieties are recognised. The species shows how incompletely the sundew flora of the tepuis is still known: only in the twenty-first century were several new carnivorous plants discovered here, often by expeditions of plant enthusiasts working with botanists.
Where and when to see it
The table mountains of Guyana can be reached only on organised expeditions with permits. For those who get there: photograph every sundew from above and from the side, with flower and leaf base in view, and note the exact elevation and habitat. Never take plants or seed without the required permits.
Conservation status
Not assessed for the global IUCN Red List and not listed in CITES. The range is probably very small but lies in remote, almost untouched country. Climate change and, in the longer term, mining in the Guyana highlands are the main potential threats; nothing has been published on population size.
Scientific name
Drosera solaris | Wistuba & McPherson, 2007
Drosera solaris was described on 21 December 2007 by Andreas Fleischmann, Andreas Wistuba and Stewart McPherson, published in Willdenowia, volume 37(2): 551–555. The type material comes from Mount Yakontipu, just below the summit of a small plateau southeast of Mount Roraima, in Guyana (at about 2065 m elevation), collected by Andreas Wistuba and Stewart McPherson in 2005. The plant grows there in a clearing in cloud forest dominated by Bonnetia roraimae, on peaty soil. The name is descriptive Latin: "solaris" means "of the sun/solar" and refers to the radiant, glowing appearance of the plants, especially in full sunlight.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.