A field trip to the carnivorous plants of the Northern Territory

[Thilo K.]

Hello,

This year I had the opportunity to travel to Australia’s north for three weeks and to explore many beautiful habitats of carnivorous plants in this stunning region.

Although the journey took place in the bone-dry month of July (it had not rained for nearly 3 months!), I was lucky enough to find approximately 30 different species in three genera.

You can find much more photos and more detailed reports of every visited site in the German CP forum.

The Northern Territory is one of the most sparsely populated regions of the world. The population density is 14 times less than in Wyoming and 1350 times less than in Germany!

The first few days we spent in the Territory’s capital Darwin, which is one of the CP-species richest regions on earth (around 34 species in total!). Unfortunately, most of them grow only in the wet season (December-April)… But that’s just what I thought before the journey!

At a swampy sandplain around 20 kilometers east of Darwin some nice plants of the common Drosera indica  [D. aquatica] grew in pure sand:



Together with U. chrysantha:



Close-up of the flower:



A nice variant [now D. fragrans]:



Some plants with leaves, which are only a few centimeters long [D. nana?]:



Byblis aquatica has (according to the NT-Herbarium) never been found in the dry months of June or July! But it obviously flowers even in July:



The most common species at this sandplain were D. indica [D. aquatica], D. burmannii and U. chrysantha:



For me, the most beautiful species at Darwin is U. leptoplectra (maybe together with U. holtzei):





The colour of the underside:



A rare white underside:



Some flowers with morning dew:





A "harpoon-spur":



The interesting leaves of this species and fallen flowers:



An inflorescence with aphids:





A field of U. leptoplectra:



An aquatic habitat:



And the view to the heart of the swamp with thousands of flowering U. leptoplectra:



The first really rare species on my trip was the strange U. capilliflora, another “wet season species” that has not been seen in July before (also according to the herbarium):



It was VERY difficult to detect a 3-4cm small (including the antennae!) flower that looks like brown grass between the brown grass!





Another very small (one of the smallest single flower of all plants!) and rare Utricularia. You can find up to 12 flowers in the picture:



Utricularia quinquedentata was also not known to produce flowers in July (at least not in Darwin):

Edited April 18, 2015 by Thilo K.

[Thilo K.]

Size comparison:



My camera reached its limits:





An unusual flower was hanging from a very short flower stalk. U. simmonsii gets strong competitive!



The maybe least known species I found was U. tubulata. Although the region around Darwin is botanically fairly well explored, this plant has never been reported from this area. It is an aquatic species and this is very unusual within the section Pleiochasia.

The plants grew in a dried up pond:



Here you can even see the very long appendages of the traps, a typical feature of this species:



Unfortunately, the flowers were a little bit deformed:





The most Drosera species of the NT belong to the petiolaris-complex (Sect. Lasiocephala). Even in July the majority of the plants I observed were surprisingly not in full dormancy and some did unexpectedly flower! Only D. falconeri was unfortunately in full dormancy.

Here is an example of a typical, absolutely dry habitat where these plants can be found:



They mostly grew in big quantities:



Drosera petiolaris [D. aff. petiolaris 'NT-form'], after which the whole section is named:



I have some problems with identifying the species from this complex. The distinction is sometimes very difficult (even with a key). Maybe some of them even are hybrids…

D. dilatatopetiolaris:





D. brevicornis, D. darwinensis or just a D. dilatatopetiolaris:



D. brevicornis:



After some botanically very interesting days in Darwin, we travelled to Kakadu National Park, one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth.

At a wonderful and extremely remote location in this fantastic National Park, I found some flowering D. dilatatopetiolaris:



The natural pollinator of this species:





Some beautiful D. lanata [D. aff. lanata 'NT-form'] were growing at the same site:











U. odorata/U. bifida often grew along the beautiful creeks and waterfalls of the National Park.

One plant (something between U. bifida and U. odorata) flowers on a root next to a nice cascade:



Some other plants on a river-beach next to the water’s edge:

Edited April 18, 2015 by Thilo K.

[Thilo K.]

This plant is certainly U. bifida:

U. odorata:

The natural pollinator of U. odorata (the same pollinator as of D. brevicornis):

A nice population of U. odorata and U. fulva grew on an island in a fantastic river:

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Utricularia fulva is definitely the most beautiful and most common bladderwort of the Northern Territory. It forms huge populations along creeks on the sandstone plateau and it is the only species of the NT that flowers mainly during the dry season.

However, the first visited population did not flower, but the habitat was extraordinary:

Right at the top of this waterfall the plants grew in very fast flowing water. As far as I know this is the definition of a rheophyte. So this could be a rheophytic U. fulva?

Another very impressive habitat next to the beautiful Twin Falls (80 meters!):

A typical habitat along a creek:

The biggest population I could find at a heavenly place:

There were thousands of flowers:

One flower was slightly different:

A single inflorescence:

Some other variations from a different site:

A hungry spider was waiting for the pollinator of U. fulva:

Another very common variation:

The stamens of the flower:

Edited December 28, 2012 by Thilo K.

[Thilo K.]

A flower with a four-lobed upper lip:



An inflorescence with exclusively three-lobed flowers:



A beautiful white flower:



Many red spots:



A flower with a particularly big upper lip:





Another form:





The most unusual variant were these pure yellow flowers:





I don’t agree, that U. fulva is (according to Taylor) not a variable species…

This dragonfly (Nannodiplax rubra) frequently visited the flowers:





Big prey:



Some other bladderworts of the Kakadu National Park are U. caerulea and U. uliginosa:







Utricularia gibba swam in a creek that flows on a sandstone plateau, which is a very unusual habitat of this species:



A cleistogamous flower of U. gibba near Darwin:



And now an extremely rare plant: Utricularia subulata. This species is - although otherwise extremely widespread - actually one of the rarest species in the NT. It was only known from three localities. The NT-Herbarium describes its distribution as following: “Only three plants are recorded for the Kakadu population with greater abundances recorded for Bathurst Island localities. The McMinns Lagoon population may no longer exist due to substantial changes in land use in the area.”

At one of the many beautiful waterfalls in Kakadu NP I could find a cleistogamous and unbelievable unspectacular form of this species together with D. burmannii:





The last days of our stay at Kakadu we spent at a very remote but exceptionally beautiful area:



In this area I encountered another very rare species:





This is a variant of Utricularia fistulosa that has been described as “U. linearis”. The “true” U. fistulosa has a very big spur, which is much longer than the lower lip!

 

This taxon is now officially U. linearis and not U. fistulosa.





After two fantastic weeks in the northern part of the Northern Territory, we travelled to the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. The carnivorous plants of this also wonderful area will be presented next.

Best regards and a happy new year,

Thilo

Edited April 18, 2015 by Thilo K.

[Gaz]

Outstanding scenery and plants, thanks for sharing Thilo

[Zlatokrt]

Stunning field report! I am speachless.

I found 10 of 12 Utricularia quinquedentata flowers

Adam

[Daniel O.]

Wow, fantastic field trip report, for sure it´s one of the places a CP grower should visit one day.

Many thanks for sharing.

Best regards,

Daniel

[-Xeno-]

Amazing report! The number of species you found in the middle of the dry season is astonishing. And how did you find some of those Utricularia's? And all those U. fulva pictures

Thank you for sharing

P.S. See any Crocs?

[manders]

Superb!

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Wow, what a great eye for CPs you have!!!

I'm embarrassed to say that I was in this same region nearly 20 years ago, also in July, but only saw a fraction of what you found. Unfortunately back then I had no clue that many of these plants grew in bone-dry habitats (in the dry season) and probably only searched in the spots that were still wet.

Anyway, thanks so much for sharing, these are beautiful pics and very important records for many of these species, congrats!

Fernando Rivadavia

P.S. I'm looking forward to your Kimberley pics!

[Fernando Rivadavia]

I forgot to say that U.fulva was possibly my favorite species up there - such unusual colors and such variation!!

Ah, and please post here the link to your topics on the German forum!

Thanks,

Fernando

[Guest Andreas Eils]

You have been to the probably most exciting place in Australia, Thilo! Not only because of the CPs, also because of the amazing landscapes! Congratulations to such an incredible luck!!

What a mass of pictures! Now I need a new keyboard for my PC....because I have dribbled a lot onto it! ;o)

Have a good start into 2013, too!

Andreas

[Thilo K.]

Thank you for your nice comments.

I found the most locations with Google Earth and with some help from the NT-Herbarium.

The majority of Utricularia were clearly visible from a few meters away. But if you want to find a U. capilliflora or U. quinquedentata, you have to crawl a little bit on the ground.

P.S. See any Crocs?

Of course!

Unfortunately I have only two bad photos of a small living crocodile:

Ah, and please post here the link to your topics on the German forum!

No problem - maybe you can translate it with Google translator...

U. leptoplectra, D. burmannii, D. indica, and U. chrysantha:

http://forum.carnivo...tra-bei-darwin/

4 petiolaris-complex species, D. burmannii, U. chrysantha and U. leptoplectra:

http://forum.carnivo...-naturstandort/

B. aquatica, U. capilliflora, D. indica, D. burmannii, a species of the petiolaris-complex, U. odorata/bifida, U. chrysantha and U. leptoplectra:

http://forum.carnivo...a-capilliflora/

U. quinquedentata, D. burmannii, U. leptoplectra, D. petiolaris, another species of the petiolaris-complex, U. caerulea:

http://forum.carnivo...quinquedentata/

U. tubulata, U. leptoplectra, U. chrysantha, D. burmannii and some species of the petiolaris-complex:

http://forum.carnivo...ren-bei-darwin/

U. fulva, U. odorata/bifida, U. uliginosa, and two (?) species of the petiolaris-complex:

http://forum.carnivo...ational-park-1/

U. limosa, U. odorata, U. chrysantha, U. fulva and D. burmannii:

http://forum.carnivo...ational-park-2/

U. fulva, U. odorata/bifida, U. caerulea and U. uliginosa:

http://forum.carnivo...t-im-kakadu-np/

U. fulva, U. odorata/bifida, D. burmannii, U. chrysantha, U. caerulea (and U. subulata):

http://forum.carnivo...n-im-kakadu-np/

U. fulva, D. burmannii, U. gibba, and U. odorata:

http://forum.carnivo...u-im-kakadu-np/

U. fistulosa, U. limosa, U. fulva, 2-3 species of the petiolaris-complex, U. odorata, U. chrysantha and D. indica:

http://forum.carnivo...t-im-kakadu-np/

There are some species, which I will present here in the Kimberley report.

regards,

Thilo

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Wow, thanks for all the links and thanks so much for taking the time to share so many pics!!!

No problem - maybe you can translate it with Google translator...

Aaaah, I don't need to translate, all I want are the pics, hahaha. ;)

Thanks!

Fernando

[bananaman]

Wow!

Those are awesome!

[kisscool_38]

Really nice report! Thank you for those so many pictures.

[gardenofeden]

Great report, thank you

[tom499]

Great photos and write up, thanks for sharing.

[RL7836]

Stunning field report! I am speachless.

Truly incredible - I am also speechless & in need of a new dribble-free keyboard - Amazing!

Thanks for sharing!

[Mato]

Outstanding presentation, Thilo. The next time I visit, I hope to take an excursion northwest. Having seen random Drosera growing out of the ground and on cliff faces in NSW - before I knew anything about the plants - shows how abundant they are in Australia.

[Fredders]

Thanks for the great field trip report and photos.

I definitely have to make it up there some time!

Cheers

Steve