Tas. 6121, 
DROSERA WattTAKERII. 
Native of South Australha. 
Nat. Ord. DrosERACE. 
Genus Drosera, Linn. ; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl., vol. i. p. 662). 
Drosera Whittakerii; tubere globoso corticato cortice chartaceo fragili 
nitido, rhizomate erecto valido subterraneo, foliis rosulatis spathulato- 
obovatis viridibus crassiusculis, pilis glandulosis rubris elongatis, scapis 
brevibus 1-floris sepalisque elongatis viridibus eglandulosis, petalis 
obcordato-cuneatis albis, ovario globoso, stylis in laciniis capillaribus 
capitellatis ad basim fissis. 
Drosera Whittakerii, Hook. Ic. Pl., t. 875; Planch. in Ann. Se. Nat., 
ser. 3, vol. ix. p. 202; Benth. Flor. Austral., vol. i. p. 462. 
This charming little plant was sent to the Royal Botanic 
Gardens of Edinburgh by Mr. W. A. Mitchell, formerly an 
employé in that establishment, where it was flowered by Mr. 
McNab in July last, and sent up to Kew for figuring, with a 
description by my friend Dr. Balfour, who observed that the 
sepals were reflexed, and the flowers an inch in diameter 
when well grown and expanded, a statement fully borne out 
by the dried specimens. The glandular hairs on the leaf are 
in all respects like those of D. /ongifolia, and act precisely in 
the same manner on being brought into contact with insects ; 
the leaf itself, however, does not become concave, but retains 
the remarkable convexity of surface of each half. 
Drosera Whittakerii is a common Victorian and South Aus- 
tralian plant, and belongs to a group of very closely allied 
species, including D. bulbosa, zonata and rosulata, all having 
tuberous roots, attaining a considerable size in the first named 
of these. Such sorts indicate a totally different kind of treat- 
ment to what answers in cultivation for D. rotundifolia and its 
allies; itindicates a resting season, preveded by one for theripen- 
ing of the bulb, and followed by a growing one 1n due course. 
The same remark applies to almost all terrestrial Australian 
Orchids, objects of inconceivable beauty and interest, but 
which have never been successfully kept in this country. 
Descr. Leaves rosulate, very numerous, densely crowded, one 
SEPTEMBER, 1874. 
