Drosera petiolaris is a carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic...

 in the genus Drosera and is the eponymous species of the petiolaris species complex

Species complex

A species complex is a group of closely related species, where the exact demarcation between species is often unclear or cryptic owing to their recent and usually still incomplete reproductive isolation. Ring species, superspecies and cryptic species complex are example of species complex...

, which mostly refers to the entire subgenus Lasiocephala

Drosera subg. Lasiocephala

Drosera subg. Lasiocephala, sometimes collectively known as the petiolaris-complex, is a subgenus of 14 species in the genus Drosera. These species are distinguished by their subpeltate to peltate lamina....

. It is native to Northern Australia, including the northern regions of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

, and Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

; this distribution is the largest in the subgenus and the only that extends beyond Australia. Its leaves are arranged in a compact basal rosette

Rosette (botany)

In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem.-Function:...

 with long, narrow petioles

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

 emerging from the center of the rosette. Carnivorous leaves are held at the end of the petiole with long retentive glands.

Drosera petiolaris was first formally described by the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in the first volume of Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis, also known by its standard botanical abbreviation Prodr. , is a 17-volume treatise on botany initiated by A. P. de Candolle. De Candolle intended it as a summary of all known seed plants, encompassing taxonomy, ecology, evolution and biogeography....

in 1824. In this description, de Candolle cited an unpublished description by Scottish botanist Robert Brown

Robert Brown (botanist)

Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...

 as a basis for his valid description of the species. The type specimen

Biological type

In biology, a type is one particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached...

 was collected at the Endeavour River

Endeavour River

The Endeavour River on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia, was named in 1770 by Lt. James Cook, R.N., after he was forced to beach his ship, HM Bark Endeavour, for repairs in the river mouth, after damaging it on Endeavour Reef...

 in Queensland by Joseph Banks

Joseph Banks

Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...

 and Daniel Solander

Daniel Solander

Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.-Biography:...

 on the first voyage of James Cook

First voyage of James Cook

The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771...

 aboard the HMS Endeavour

HMS Endeavour

HMS Endeavour may refer to one of the following ships:In the Royal Navy:, a 36-gun ship purchased in 1652 and sold in 1656, a 4-gun bomb vessel purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a fire ship purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a storeship hoy purchased in 1694 and sold in 1705, a storeship...

.

See also

• List of Drosera species
• Taxonomy of Drosera

External links