''Drosera praefolia'' is a perennial tuberous species in the genus '' Drosera'' that is endemic to South Australia. It grows in a rosette 4 to 6 cm in diameter with green or sometimes red leaves. It is native to south-east South Australia from the southern Fleurieu Peninsula south to Kangaroo Island. It grows in

lateritic Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

clay-sand,

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

, or decomposed shale soils in open woodland. It flowers from April to May.Lowrie, A, and J. G. Conran. 2008
A review of ''Drosera whittakeri'' s. lat. (Droseraceae) and description of a new species from Kangaroo Island, South Australia
''Telopea'', 12(2): 147-165. It was first formally described by Johann Gottlieb Otto Tepper in 1892 from specimens he collected on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Earlier in 1882, Tepper sent a description and specimens to

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

, who labeled the plants as ''D. whittakeri'' var. ''aphylla'', but never published the name. Its placement at the rank of species was controversial and several authors, including

Raymond Hamet Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

in 1907, John McConnell Black in 1924, and

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 ''Stylidium'' (also known as triggerplants or trigger plants) is a genus of dicot ...

in 1989, have reorganized it below the species rank. Others have reduced it to synonymy with ''

Drosera whittakeri ''Drosera whittakeri'' (scented sundew, Whittaker's sundew) is a sundew that is native to South Australia and Victoria. Description Plants are 4 to 8 cm in diameter, with broadly spathulate leaves arranged in a rosette. These may be green, ...

''. In 1991, Robert J. Bates made the case for recognition at the species rank, authoring the illegitimate name ''D. aphylla'' in the process, a name not based on the first validly published description. Recently, several authors have recognized the taxon at the subspecies or species rank, but others have still only recognized it as a part of the very variable single species ''D. whittakeri'' '' sensu lato''. In a review of ''D. whittakeri'' and related species, Lowrie and John Godfrey Conran reestablished it at the species rank, arguing that the morphology is dissimilar enough from ''D. whittakeri'' that it requires its own species epithet. Lowrie and Conran note that ''D. praefolia'' is distinct from ''D. whittakeri'' (whose opposing characteristics presented in parentheses) by its white tubers (orange), leaves emerging after flowering (before flowering), and the ovate to obovate leaf shape (broadly spathulate), among other differences.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5308537 Carnivorous plants of Australia Caryophyllales of Australia praefolia Flora of South Australia Plants described in 1892

See also

References