tuberous-drosera.net --- Drosera praefolia

tuberous-drosera.net --- home for tuberous drosera

Drosera praefolia

This is a species which is still quite rare in cultivation and my own experience is somewhat limited.
The leaves of this species are usually adpressed to the substrate, much more so when compared to the other species in the complex (aberrans, whittakeri, schmutzii). The rosette may reach 4-6 cm in diameter. As its name already suggests, this species develops the inflorescence before the leaves emerge.
The tubers are white.

You can find a full description of this species here: http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/95400/Tel122147Low.pdf: Lowrie and Conran, A review of Drosera whittakeri s. lat. (Droseraceae) and description of a new species from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Telopea 2008, 12(2), 147–165; (file size 2.5 MB)


D. praefolia tubers



Emerging flowering and non-flowering plants. The flower scapes are the first signs of new growth for flowering plants as the name already suggests.



Normal flower (top) with 5 petals, aberrant flower (bottom) with 6 petals. The pictures in the top row were taken a few days after the lower ones. At that stage the first leaves start to appear.


Same procedure as last year: in the 2015/2016 season this species was once again among first of all my tuberous Drosera to start the flowering season in early October. As you can see in the second picture, a second plant is about to flower as well.




A few days later both plants were in full flower, both with 3 flowers per plant that day. Interestingly, the number of petals varied from 5 to 7.


The rosette develops while the last flowers in the season are open. The two pictures were taken 3 days apart.


Plants at the height of the growing season


The same plants at the end of the growing season


In the 2014/2015 growing season a new plant emerges in January - in the height of the growing season - while the parent plant continues to stay active.


Same plants about one month later.


Plants/tubers at the 2014/2015 growing season: two plants are already dormant with fully developed tubers (now exceeding 1.5 cm in diameter) whereas the other plant now has produced a third crown and a relatively small tuber. It remains to be seen whether the additional plant will produce a separate tuber. So far, my D. praefolia plants never produced additional tubers.

Please respect that all texts and photos were created by me and may not be used without my permission.