A Few Tuberous Drosera

Drosera neesii ssp. neesii

I recently placed an order with Allen Lowrie via the NECPS for some tuberous Drosera tubers. This is my first real foray into tuberous Drosera, so I thought I would do some research about their native habitats. Happily, Esperance Wildflowers was happy to provide a bit of information on the topic.

Drosera macrantha ssp. macrantha

I've learned, unsurprisingly, that tuberous Drosera, such as Drosera neesii and Drosera macrantha, live in sandy soils, often with a bit of peat or laterite mixed into the sand. These two climbing species, like all tuberous species, grow only during the wet winter season.

Drosera ramellosa

What was even neater to find was information on Drosera ramellosa, which grows in coarse sand intermixed with heavy loam over granite outcrops. Interestingly, the coastal form, which sees a greater amount of rainfall, grows larger than the inland form, which sees a smaller amount of rainfall. This tells me that water is extremely important during the growing season, something which is not surprising where tuberous plants are concerned.