Family |
Droseraceae
Drosera rotundifolia
L.
Drosera rotundifolia L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 282 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXXXVII nº 4; 1969)
• Life-form & habit : Small perennial insectivorous hemicryptophyte; plants solitary, forming a low basal rosette; scape pseudo-terminal, arising from the axil of the uppermost leaf, 4–8 cm tall.
• Leaves : Leaves all basal, usually spread horizontally, sometimes half-erect; blade orbicular or slightly broader than long, 5–8 mm wide; petiole 15–30 mm, velvety; upper surface densely covered with numerous reddish glandular hairs, longer along the margin, capable of trapping insects.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Cyme few-flowered, borne on the slender scape, with 6–10 flowers; flowers small, normally pentamerous; petals white, c. 5 mm.
• Fruit : Capsule smooth.
• Phenology : Flowers from June to July.
• Habitat & elevation : Slightly peaty wet places on sandstone, from 1000 m upward.
• Lebanese distribution : Formerly recorded from Bikfaya, Choueir, Mayrouba, Mrouj and ‘Aïn-el-Qabou, but these localities are no longer confirmed. Current records are restricted to Mazra‘at Kfar Debiane, ‘Aïn Saoua‘ir, Kfertay and Baskinta.
• Native range : Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Altay, Amur, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, California, Central European Russia, China Southeast, Chita, Colorado, Connecticut, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Delaware, Denmark, District of Columbia, East European Russia, Finland, France, Føroyar, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Kentucky, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Kuril Is., Labrador, Lebanon-Syria, Magadan, Maine, Manchuria, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Netherlands, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Caucasus, North Dakota, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Northwest Territories, Norway, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, NW. Balkan Pen., Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Romania, Sakhalin, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South European Russia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Tennessee, Transcaucasus, Tuva, Türkiye, Ukraine, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Siberia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Yakutiya, Yukon.
• Conservation notes : Assessed as Least Concern (LC) according to IUCN criteria; in Lebanon, however, it is highly habitat-dependent and confined to rare wet sandstone and slightly peaty microhabitats.
• Diagnostic remarks : Readily recognised by its small round basal leaves bearing reddish sticky glandular hairs and by its white flowers on a slender scape; distinguished from other Lebanese wetland plants by its insectivorous habit and rosette of glandular leaves.