Carnivores in the backyard

[tropicbreeze]

The wet season brings out lots of carnivores on my place, it's a natural habitat for many of them. Getting photos of CPs can be a daunting task, often on  knees and elbows in water and/or mud. Where there's no surface water I'm often on my belly on wet ground. Anyway, that's my excuse for some of the photos being poor quality. This is what I've managed to find here this past wet season.

Byblis aquatica, which is fairly common.

The first CPs to come up early in the wet season are Drosera fulva. Wasn't able to take photos earlier on so none of plants flowering.

D. fulva winding down for the season.

Still find it a bit difficult pinpointing the difference between Drosera dilitatopetiolaris and D. petiolaris. But fairly sure mine are dilitatopetiolaris.

Drosera burmannii is probably the least wide spread Drosera on my place. Being so small they tend to get sand particles splashed onto them.

Of the Indica Complex Drosera D. nana is the most common and earliest grower. The first one has what looks like a Setocoris insect on it. They manage to rob food from the plants without getting caught themselves.

Drosera aquatica, also very widspread on my place, even coming up in lawns in some parts.

Drosera fragrans, the last species of Drosera to get going in the wet season. Widespread, but not as common as the other two.

There's more Utric species here than other CPs. Most widespread (also one of the most inconspicuous) is Utricularia nivea. they seem to come up everywhere except in standing water.

Far less common and about the same size are Utricularia minutissima.

 

Utricularia geoffrayi

Utricularia leptoplectra is very common but only in wet swampy areas.

Utricularia leptorhyncha occupies less wet areas than leptoplectra but seems to need sub-surface seepage.

There's one large patch of Utricularia odorata, a smaller patch seems to have disappeared.

 

Utricularia chrysantha also seems to prefer wet soil but no surface water. It's a later starter and keeps going after most other Utrics have disappeared.

First time I found Utricularia foveolata on my place was this last wet season. initially didn't know which species it was, but when finally getting around to identifying it I realised it was rare. Going back to try and get more photos I wasn't able to locate any more plants. So unfortunately there's only this one fairly poor photo.

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by tropicbreeze
Corrected plant name

[mark funnell]

Thanks for the great pictures.! Always wanted to go to Australia to see them. Did you have to go far to find them? 

Edited May 22, 2018 by mark funnell

[Keith]

Thanks for posting mate, great pics. Stunning Colour and shape with U. leptoplectra. Good bit of growing info as well...Keep 'em comming 

[werds]

Thank you for your contribution!

Australia´s carnivorous plants are really unique and fascinating.

[tropicbreeze]

Thanks for the comments fellas, much appreciated.

Mark, quite literally as it says in the title, all these photos were taken on my property. Admittedly, my property isn't your average suburban block. So far I've found 14 species of CP that grow naturally on my place. An additional one, U. gibba, I don't count as I suspect it came in on some water plants I bought.

I also have more photos taken in other localities around the place. When they're sorted I'll put them up on separate threads. This area is rich in CP species, but only Utricularia, Drosera, Byblis and Aldrovanda (also Stylidium, as a pseudo-carnivore).

[mark funnell]

Really amazing to have such a great selection of plants in such a close proximity to your house. Would love that myself. 

[werds]

Would love to see some Stylidium photos too!

[tropicbreeze]

Mark, it's a definite advantage for me. "Mother Nature" does all the work looking after the plants. No effort (and especially no frustrations) on my part trying to grow them, but still the enjoyment of them being "mine".

Werds, there's only 2 Stylidiums I've IDed on my place but have photos of others in the area as well. May be worth another thread just for them.

[Karsty]

This is great Tropicbreeze! Thank you for posting all this, and those bits of information about native habitat conditions are like gold dust!

Off topic for this sub-forum, but still on weird plants, have you ever tried growing Platycerium quadridichotomum? It grows in nature with a completely dry season and preserves its tissues like Xerophyta and some Selaginella, them "resurrects" itself when rain returns. It looks completely dead in the dry season.

Edited May 25, 2018 by Karsty

[Dunc]

Great to have so many in your backyard! Guess it's not a suburban size?  I'll be in Darwin in a months time - any recommendations of where to go to see a few plants?

[tropicbreeze]

Thanks for that Karsty, I've replied on your Platycerium thread.

Dunc, very definitely not your average suburban size backyard. I'd say if you're coming to Darwin and particularly wanted to see CPs then you should have made it during March/April. But May or June can be good (depending on where exactly you're prepared to go) if the wet season drags out. This year we got exceptionally high rainfall in January (at my place 1068mm for the month), but after that the rain died. Everything is drying out fast. Closer to Darwin the Howard Sand Plains would be your best bet. There are other areas but it depends on what your travel agenda is. This is the link to a thread I put up for a guide to the plants of the Howard Sand Plains, you should find it interesting.

http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/60112-field-guide-to-plants-of-darwin-sandsheet-heath/

[tropicbreeze]

Doubled up post

Edited May 27, 2018 by tropicbreeze
Removed, was doubled up post.

[tropicbreeze]

Looking around the past day there's lots of Drosera burmanni flowering. Seeing as I didn't post any flower photos of them before I'll add this one here.

Other CPs I saw still flowering despite the dry weather were Drosera aquatica, D. fragrans, Utricularia chrysantha, plus only one U. nivea.

[Dunc]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 8:52 AM, tropicbreeze said:

Thanks for that Karsty, I've replied on your Platycerium thread.

Dunc, very definitely not your average suburban size backyard. I'd say if you're coming to Darwin and particularly wanted to see CPs then you should have made it during March/April. But May or June can be good (depending on where exactly you're prepared to go) if the wet season drags out. This year we got exceptionally high rainfall in January (at my place 1068mm for the month), but after that the rain died. Everything is drying out fast. Closer to Darwin the Howard Sand Plains would be your best bet. There are other areas but it depends on what your travel agenda is. This is the link to a thread I put up for a guide to the plants of the Howard Sand Plains, you should find it interesting.

http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/60112-field-guide-to-plants-of-darwin-sandsheet-heath/

Many thanks for the info and links - can't really choose when I travel so has to be what it is.  Will be in Darwin for a few days with a car so aim to get out and about and see some of the sights.  Just not planned on what yet!  I'd like to see some of the CPs but my wife won't take kindly to full days trekking to see a 'few weeds' so will have to fit it in with whatever else we aim to see ;-p  Is there a visitors centre at Howards Sand or any suggestion (GPS?) or where to head to?

[tropicbreeze]

Dunc, sent you an email with info.

[tropicbreeze]

I just noticed (only one year late) that the last photo in the group under the label "Utricularia minutissima" is actually Utricularia geoffrayi.

[Karsty]

8 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

I just noticed (only one year late) that the last photo in the group under the label "Utricularia minutissima" is actually Utricularia geoffrayi.

Hey tropicbreeze! What's your weather like at the moment?

You can edit that plant name up there 

Karsty.

[tropicbreeze]

Thanks Karsty, I should have seen that myself. The name has been edited now.

This morning minimum was 17.2C with relative humidity 92%, maximum this arvo was 34.2C with relative humidity 28%. Clear skies and sunny all day with light winds. Pretty typical for this time of year.  I hear the UK has been getting hammered with dry/drought conditions, above average temperatures and bush fires. Not what you'd expect.

[cplover]

Thanks for the great photos of Australian carnivores. I always interested in the native carnivorous plant over the Australia. May I ask one question?? I had found few red Aldrovanda in the Darwin area about 2 years ago. I had searched the information about Aldrovanda and every article told me that Aldrovanda is very rare even in the Northern Territory of Australia. So I don't know if the Aldrovanda I found is native or introduced by someone. Have you often found the wild Aldrovanda over the Noonamah or Northern Territory???  Thank you very much!

[tropicbreeze]

Cplover, this is an extract from the herbarium publication on floodplain flora of the Darwin region:

"In Australia found in W.A., N.T., Qld, N.S.W. Grows in shallow fresh water, often being caught on floating debris. In the N.T. localities include Arafura Swamp, a swamp at Pukitarmarloo Point (Bathurst Island), Fogg Dam, Girraween Lagoon and floodplains of the Finniss and Reynolds rivers."

But I suspect it's more common than that. Problem is it prefers permanent water but that is where you'll also get crocodiles. People don't usually like poking their heads into places like that so lots of plants are probably not seen. I haven't seen any around, but I'm always very careful around water and don't take unnecessary risks.

[cplover]

Tropicbreeze, thanks very much!  And I think Im very lucky to see this wonderful cp in the wild and not be eaten.