International Carnivorous Plant Society

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter Archive

 

Hypothesis of mucilage-assisted dispersal of Drosera seeds

Robert Gibson

Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 44(4):195-196
Published 18 November 2015

https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn444.rg346

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Summary

Several Drosera taxa occur in seasonally wet herbfields on the upper slopes of isolated granite outcrops in inland South Western Australia. These habitats are naturally irrigated by runoff from adjacent rock surfaces. Many of these sundews that grow here, particularly rosetted tuberous sundews (Drosera subgenus Ergaleium section Erythrorhiza) and fan-leaved sundews (D. subgenus Ergaleium sect. Stolonifera) produce spherical seeds around 1 mm diameter that lack obvious surface characters to readily facilitate dispersal to other granite outcrops. Yet these sundews are common components of these habitats in the region. How then did these sundews spread across the landscape when their seed appear to be poor candidates for long-distance dispersal?

Keywords: Drosera, seeds, mucilage, dispersal

Article Citation

Robert Gibson. 2015. Hypothesis of mucilage-assisted dispersal of Drosera seeds. Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 44(4):195-196. https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn444.rg346

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