Some current local carnivores

[tropicbreeze]

A lot of the Drosera have disappeared or at least aren't flowering any more. Particularly in the drier areas. However, in the damper areas D. indica is in full bloom.

In the very wet areas with standing water Byblis is in huge numbers but not a real lot flowering.

Beside the water there's some Stylidiums, though not a lot.

Utricularias are in huge numbers where it's still wet. U. chrysantha stays in the wet soil rather than in standing water. U. leptoplectra prefers the very swampy places with standing water.

The U. gibba is in water, but I suspect it's an "escape" here. I seem to have brought some in with a water plant I'd bought a while back. There's only one small occurence on my place. It is native to the general area, but if it had have been natural on my place I'd expect there to be quite a lot of it around.

Utricularia gibba




Utricularia chrysantha

















Utricularia leptoplectra

















Byblis aquatica
















Drosera indica














 

[tropicbreeze]

Stylidium cordifolium

[Denis J.]

Awesome pictures! Thanks

[Sean Spence]

Can't wait to get up there when I get the chance.

[tropicbreeze]

Thanks for the comments. There is a lot around once you start looking. Just the other day I found another Stylidium that I'd never seen before. Looks bit like a S. candelabrum, but it's pure white (flowers) and in a totally different environment to the candelabrums I know.

[Greg Allan]

Great photos, but the 'B aquatica' look to me like D indica.

 

Cheers,

 

Greg

[tropicbreeze]

B. aquatica and D. indica do strongly resemble one another superficially. But D. indica has racemose flowers whereas B. aquatica has single flowers. The carpels don't show up well in those photos, I'd need a better camera than mine to do that. Both types of plants are growing next to one another with no signs of any intergrading between them. There are vastly more of the 'B. aquatica' spread over a much wider area. But I'll look into it further to see if I can get more confirmation one way or the other.
 

[Adelae]

The plants (D.Indica and Byblis) look different to, in the wild plants are easily identified, indica are generally heavier built, grow in a different manor and have very differnt branching patterns.

[Kiwano]

Very nice pictures, thank you ! 

But can I know where you have taken it ?

[Greg Allan]

Hi,

 

The 'B aquatica' is definately a member of the Drosera indica complex, not a Byblis. I understand that Lowrie has revised this complex, resulting in the naming of several new species, so I have no idea which one it is.

 

One obvious way to distinguish between tropical Byblis and Drosera is that all annual Byblis leaves unfurl outwards, like Drosophyllum, whereas those of the D indica complex unfurl inwards. Also, all Byblis have bright yellow banana-shaped anthers, and a long curved style with a small stigma.

 

Really interesting photos, though.

[tropicbreeze]

Kiwano, all these plants are at Noonamah, Northern Territory, Australia.

The area is drying out quite fast and there's been a shift in the balance of plants that are still out and flowering. The U. chrysantha has exploded in numbers as the water has disappeared and it carpets some areas, possibly 30 to 40 flowers per square metre over wide areas. U. leptoplectra has diminished in numbers. U. gibba disappeared completely very fast. But another one has turned up, although not in great numbers, U. involucra.

The Drosera burmani is slowly disappearing. What I identified as D. indica has now disappeared from the original patch where I found it. But today I found another single plant about 80 to 100 metres away. It's identical in size, colour and growth habit to the others. What I identified as Byblis aquatica (but now realise is actually D. indica) carpets virtually the whole area of the swamp. It's by far the most common CP there, rivalling even the U' chrysantha. I checked many plants and they all unfurl their leaves inward the same as D. indica.

Doing a bit of research on D. indica, apparently there are 3 morphotypes in the area. So looks like I have 2 here growing virtually amongst one another without any intergrading between them. That still seems a bit unusual to me. So maybe they are in fact another species. The type specimen of Byblis aquatica came from about 1.5 kilometres from my place, so I guess that's what helped me jump to the conclusion that one of my plants was that. With my new gained knowledge, next wet season I'm going to check further around to see if I can find some Byblis here. For this season it's a bit too late.