33 



DBOSEBA MACRANTHA AND D. STRICTICAULIS. 

 By Oswald H. Sargent. 

 (Plate 523.) 



The following notes are founded chiefly upon field observations 

 made during the last five years. 



Drosera stricticaulis has hitherto been classed as a variety of 

 D. macrantha ; and it was to determine the true status of the 

 former that my observations were commenced. I am now satisfied 

 that it is entitled to specific rank, and proceed to give my reasons, 

 but will first tabulate the chief morphological differences between 

 the two forms : — 



Stem 



Basal 

 Scales 



Petioles 



Laminae 



Flowers 

 Ovule 



Seed 



D. macrantha. 

 A climber. 



Thin, wiry, glabrous near base, 

 where it bears only scattered 

 scales. 

 j Glabrous, widely scattered, 

 | flattened, subulate, acute, 

 f Descending, or (rarely) hori- 

 \ zontal. 



/Horizontal, facing down- 

 { wards, yellow-green, 

 j Odour aminoid (?) : petals 

 ( white.* 

 Linear, wingless. 

 ^Angular-cylindrical with bul- 

 bous ends, straight or 

 slightly curved, smooth and 

 uniformly black. 



D. stricticaulis. 

 A rigid herb. 

 Bather thick, herbaceous, 



hairy throughout, leafy to 



base. 

 Hairy, rather crowded, linear, 



truncate, flat. 

 Ascending. 



Vertical, facing outwards, 

 bright green. 



petals 



Odour terpinoid (?) : 

 pink. 



Linear, with crescentic wing. 



A broad band much flattened 

 laterally, curved dorsiven- 

 trally usually into a com- 

 plete circle, somewhat 

 wrinkled, with medial lon- 



Igitudinal furrow on each 

 side, black with pale, horny- 

 looking hilar end. 



The physiological and minor morphological differences will be 

 pointed out in the life-history sketches which follow. 



Soon after the winter rains have commenced (about May), on 

 careful search in its haunts, D. macrantha will be found as a 

 slender ruddy stem, with a closely appressed tuft of leaves at its 

 top. The earliest appearance is a small cone formed by one whorl, 

 or quasi-whorl, of slightly imbricate scales arched protectively 

 over the plant's apex ; but without elaborate arrangements before- 

 hand this is not likely to be found in the bush. 



Two or three weeks after its emergence from the ground, when 

 the stem has attained a height of about six inches, the petioles 

 commence to spread out. The unfolding of the leaf is rather 

 complicated. In the bud the filiform petioles are erect and stand 



Journal of Botany. 



* See Addendum. 



-Vol. 51. [February, 1913. 



