Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 14:06:16 -0200 From: "Fernando Rivadavia-Lopes" <fe_riva@uol.com.br> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg57$foo@default> Subject: More New Drosera from Down Under....
To all,
I just received volume 13, number 1 of Nuytsia from Allen Lowrie
with several papers of his. All deal with the triggerplants (Stylidium spp.)
except for one article about the yellow-flowered tuberous sundews. The title
is: "A taxonomic review of the yellow-flowered tuberous species of _Drosera_
(Droseraceae) from south-west Western Australia". Here's the abstract for
those interested:
"Five tuberous species of _Drosera_ (Droseraceae) with yellow
flowers are endemic in south-west Western Australia. They all belong in
_Drosera_ sect._Ergaleium_ (DC.) Planchon. Descriptions and illustrations
are presented for four of these species: _Drosera subhirtella_ Planchon,
_D.moorei_ (Diels) Lowrie _com.nov._, _D.zigzagia_ Lowrie _sp.nov._, and
_D.intricata_ Planchon, which is reinstated. These four species are closely
related and are collectively refered to here as the _Drosera subhirtella_
complex. The only other tuberous species to have yellow flowers is _Drosera
sulphurea_ Lehm., which is reinstated here as distinct from its closest
relative, the pink-flowered _D.neesii_ Lehm. Although not closely related to
the _Drosera subhirtella_ complex, _D.sulphurea_ can be confused with
members of that group and therefore a key to all five yellow-flowered
species is provided."
So for all of you who have Lowrie's Volume 1, go get your books
to take a look at what's new. There were only two subspecies of
_D.subhirtella_ in there: subsp._subhirtella_ and subsp._moorei_. Both of
these are now seperate species. As for _D.intricata_ (nice name for a
climbing tuberous sundew, huh?), this species is now recognized by Allen as
being a truly valid species, after having remained a synonym of
_D.subhirtella_ for decades. Now _D.zigzagia_ was for me the most
interesting part of the paper. This is a truly new species unidentified by
anyone else previously. It has a short erect stem (5-7cm) which, as the name
says, is zig-zagged between each leaf axil. Now that's what I call an
original name for a CP! What a fertile imagination Allen must have to still
not have run out of names after so many new species of CP and triggerplants
accumulated over these past decades!
Anyways, the only part of the paper which was not too clear for
me were the changes made to the _D.neesii_ complex. In his Volume 1, Allen
included _D.neesii_ subsp._neesii_ and subsp._borealis_. One of the main
characteristics distinguishing these two was that the former had yellow
flowers and the latter pink. Now in this most recent paper, Allen claims
that _D.sulphurea_ (another pretty name I'd hate to see thrown away!) is
easily distinguishable from _D.neesii_ because, among other things, the
former has yellow flowers and the latter (both subsp.) have pink flowers.
Am I missing an article? Apparently, somewhere along the
taxonomic line since Lowrie's Volume 1 and this latest paper, _D.neesii_
subsp._neesii_ must have been considered as including both pink and yellow
flowered specimens, for the yellow flowered ones to be now separated as
_D.sulphurea_. Reading Allen's Volume 1, I see that what he refers to as
subsp._neesii_ is what he now calls _D.sulphurea_ while what he refers to as
subsp._borealis_ includes both subsp._neesii_ and subsp_borealis_ as
described in his latest paper (differentiated mainly by tuber color). Most
likely, he must have realized at some point that the yellow-flowered
specimens did not correspond to the type specimens of _D.neesii_, but to
that of _D.sulphurea_ and that what he called subsp._borealis_ in his Volume
1 included both the type specimens of _D.neesii_ (dark maroon tuber) and
subsp._borealis_ (white tubers).
Well, either way I'm sure future books or papers of Allen's
reviewing other species complexes will clear this story up, as well as
continuously add more species to the already humongous list from that
CP-rich corner of the world.
Best Wishes,
Fernando Rivadavia
Sao Paulo, Brazil
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