Drosera yilgarnensis — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Identification

Characters of habit, leaf, flower and flowering time were not found in the sources consulted. All measurement fields are left empty. Its placement within the genus could not be established with certainty here either; the original description (2012) is indispensable for identification.

Similar species

Without published characters, no reliable distinction from related species can be given.

The trap and how it works

An active flypaper trap, as in all sundews. The leaves carry stalked glands with a sticky droplet; an insect that touches them sticks fast, after which the tentacles bend towards the prey and the glands secrete digestive enzymes. The dissolved nitrogen, phosphorus and minerals are absorbed through the leaf — a supplement that makes the difference on the extremely poor soils of south-west Australia.

Habitat and ecology

Habitat details were not found in the sources consulted. The code D1 (sand) is a provisional placeholder, not a published observation, and should be checked in a later round.

Distribution and elevation

The name points to the Yilgarn, the interior of Western Australia, largely east of the wheatbelt. This guide's working list places the species in south-west Australia. No closer delimitation was found in accessible sources. Altitudinal limits are not published.

Recorded (one-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 11 one-degree squares — roughly a hundred and ten kilometres — in which the species has been recorded, from all GBIF records. This is coarser than for most species because hardly any record of this plant carries an accurate coordinate: the locality of poached species is obscured at source. At this scale that obscuring disappears into the noise. The cells show where it has been seen, not where it occurs: an empty square means nothing.

Forms and variation

Described by R.P. Gibson and B.J. Conn in 2012. No subspecies or varieties are known. As a recently described species, its circumscription may still change.

Where and when to see it

Before a visit, consult FloraBase or a local plant society. The Yilgarn interior is vast and dry; sundews appear there only after sufficient winter rain, and in dry years a site may look empty above ground.

Conservation status

Assessed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List; not listed in CITES. Further data on populations and threats were not found in the sources consulted.

Scientific name

Drosera yilgarnensis | Gibson & Conn, 2012

Drosera yilgarnensis was described in 2012 by Robert P. Gibson and Barry J. Conn, published in Australian Systematic Botany, volume 25(1), page 75. The species is endemic to Western Australia; a precise type locality with collector and collection date could not be established with certainty. The suffix "-ensis" typically denotes a place name, and the name yilgarnensis likely refers to the Yilgarn region (the Yilgarn Craton) in the Western Australian inland, where this species is endemic; however, explicit confirmation in the original description could not be located.

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