''Drosera paradoxa'' is a

carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryot ...

in the genus ''

Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

'' and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with a woody stem that can grow as tall as . The leaves on the single terminal rosette are erect or horizontal (with age) and held at the end of

linear Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...

petioles, which are typically 20–35 mm (approximately 1 inch) long at flowering time. The carnivorous leaves are sub-orbicular and small at 2.5–3 mm (approximately 1/10 inch) wide and 2–3 mm (approximately 1/10 inch) long.

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are long with pink or white flowers being produced on 50- to 70-flowered crowded

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s from July to September during the dry season.Lowrie, A. 1997
''Drosera paradoxa'' (Droseraceae), a new species from northern Australia.
''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'', 11(3): 347–351. ''Drosera paradoxa'' is found in skeletal sandy soils over sandstone in or along the banks of seasonally dry creeks or in sandstone cracks. During the wet season from March to April, its habitat is typically flooded with fast-flowing water. ''Drosera paradoxa'' is native to the west and north coasts of the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region inland to Beverley Springs, Western Australia and east to

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

and Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. It was first described by Australian botanist

Allen Lowrie Allen Lowrie (10 October 1948 - 30 August 2021) was a Western Australian botanist. He was recognised for his expertise on the genera ''Drosera'' and '' Stylidium''.Council of Heads of Australasian HerbariaResources of Australian Herbaria: Western ...

in a 1997 issue of ''

'', the journal of the Western Australian Herbarium. Early field observations of this species were initially confusing, which is the source of this species'

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

, ''paradoxa''. Some populations seemed to be annual with new seedlings replacing the mature, woody plants that had existed there the previous year. Other populations had no woody stems, while others were tall and mature. Several trips into the field from 1993 to 1997 were required to reveal these different forms to be only stages in this species' perennial growth cycle from seedling to pincushion basal rosette to erect woody-stemmed specimen. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected on 1 August 1996 near Wren Creek on the road to Pantijan on a tributary of Bachsten Creek in Western Australia. Lowrie assessed this species'

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

as common and not under threat in 1997. It is closely related to '' D. petiolaris'', but differs from that species most notably by its tall woody stem whereas ''D. petiolaris'' forms clumps of many basal rosettes from a common perennial rootstock.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q140887 Carnivorous plants of Australia Caryophyllales of Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Plants described in 1997 paradoxa

See also

References

External links