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Leafy Sundew

Drosera purpurascens

Leafy Sundew is a compact tuberous perennial sundew from south-west Western Australia that traps insects on sticky leaves. Grow it in moist, sandy, acidic soil in full sun with plenty of water, as it is a carnivorous plant from a nutrient-poor habitat.

Family
Droseraceae (Sundew family)
Grows as
Bulb, Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the soil constantly moist, preferably watering from below with rainwater or distilled water.
Soil
Sand-based, acidic, nutrient-poor mix such as sand and peat.
Temperature
10–30 °C; protect from hard frost.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
SW. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Drosera purpurascens is a compact tuberous perennial species in the genus Drosera that is endemic to south-west Western Australia. It produces 1 erect or 2 to 5 semi-erect lateral stems that grow to 3 to 10 cm long. The compact size of the plant combined with relatively long petioles distinguish it from all other members of the section Stolonifera. It is native to a region from Mount Cooke to near Katanning and Ongerup south to the Denmark-Albany region. It grows in sand-laterite soils and flowers from July to October, flowering en masse after bushfires.

It was first formally described by August Friedrich Schlotthauber in 1856. In 1982 N. G. Marchant described a subspecies of D. stolonifera that was later reduced to synonymy with D. purpurascens.

Other Drosera plants

Scented Sundew · Drosera acaulis · Drosera adelae · Peninsula Sundew · Slender Leaved Sundew · White Sundew · Drosera albonotata · Australian sundew · Pygmy Sundew · Drosera amazonica · Drosera andersoniana · Drosera androsacea

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Drosera purpurascens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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