Having focussed on _Drosera_, I have completely overlooked/forgotten some
really interesting fossils of (NB: the *very* delicate) _Aldrovanda_ from
Europe and boreal Asia from as early strata as the Eocene and Oligocene
(i.e. times at which supposedly not even the idea to develop
Lentibulariaceae was born...). These early specimens are not classified as
the modern species _A.vesiculosa_ but as some primitive congeners (now
extinct). The absence of _Drosera_ in these strata may be explained by the
possibility that it did not occur in the northern hemisphere that early. If
now _Aldrovanda_ (which is considered a rather *advanced* member of
Droseraceae!) has had this wide distribution even in the early Tertiary,
very far-fetching theories could be established concerning the (supposedly)
more primitive genera _Dionaea_ and especially _Drosophyllum_...
I also have to remind it was originally Diels4 idea, and not mine, that the
European/boreal Asian species of _Drosera_ originated in America (but this
doesn4t need to falsify this theory, does it?).
Kind regards
Jan