In late January, I did an overnight hiking trip up the Baw Baw Plateau, in the Great Dividing Range 2 hours east of Melbourne. The hike takes you up above the winter snowline, into the alpine swamps high in the mountains.
Drosera arcturi grows in ridiculous numbers in the alpine swamps that form between the peaks of the alpine plateaus. It especially likes to occupy the wet sphagnum adjacent to streamlets and ponds. This species is adapted for alpine conditions, growing during the warm spring and summer before reducing back to a dormant hibernaculum to rest in sub-zero temperatures. During summer, the average temperatures range from around 5-15 C, although it widely fluctuates between heatwaves and cold snaps. In winter, the region is often covered in heavy snow.
