Drosera menziesii Species Profile

Drosera menziesii Species Profile

Drosera menziesii is an erect species widespread in the southwest of Western Australia. Its name honours Archibald Menzies, surgeon of the Royal Nacy of Vancouver’s voyage.

Drosera menziesii has a glabrous stem that is 15 – 30cm in height, self support and glabrous. The leaves are produced in sets of three, with the middle leaf longer than the other two. The laminae are orbicular. The foliage is generally blood red. The flowers are pink in colour and the sepals are densely covered with glandular hairs.

It is associated with wet niches such as the edge of swamps, creeks and on soils atop shallow granite outcrops. It is distributed along the entire south-west of Western Australia, from Eneabba through the inland and along the coast to Cape Arid.

Drosera menziesii is part of a complex of four closely related species with the other members being D. thysanosepala, drummondii and basifolia. Drosera menziesii is identifiable firstly by its shorted self-supporting stems, in contrast with the long scrambling stems of D. thysanosepala and D. drummondii. In the sandplains north of Perth, D. drummondii can also be short and self-supporting but prefers well-drained habitats in contrast to swamp channels. D. menziesii grows in. It is distinguished from D. basifolia by its well spaced leaves at the base of the stem (D. basifolia has very densely packed leaves at the base of the stem). There is another closely related taxon with orange flowers that prefers slightly drier niches.

Drosera menziesii in the Perth Hills. Note the glabrous stem, orbicular leaves and densely hairy sepals.
The flowers of Drosera menziesii
The flower of Drosera menziesii. Plant growing near Jurien Bay
Drosera menziesii growing at the edge of the swamp channel near Jurien Bay
Drosera menziesii growing in mossy loam atop granite in the seepages at the edge of Jarrah forest in the Perth Hills
A large field of Drosera menziesii interspersed with D. gigantea on a decomposed granite outcrop in the Perth Hills.
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