Paper on the Drosera peltata complex

[John Brittnacher]

According to the paper all or almost all the Drosera peltata subsp. peltata sold by the ICPS Seed Bank in the past are now considered Drosera hookeri.

It may seem odd that everything we considered typical Drosera peltata is now Drosera hookeri and plants I would have suspected of being hybrids between Drosera peltata and Drosera auriculata based on the seeds are now Drosera peltata. To be fair there are other traits where Drosera hookeri appears to be intermediate.

[John Brittnacher]

I have checked the Drosera peltata group seeds in the ICPS Seed Bank and relabeled some of them.

The reason for this change is that the type specimen for "Drosera peltata" is the gracilis form which has Drosera auriculata-like seeds but hairy sepals. So what we have been calling "Drosera peltata" is different from what was originally described as "Drosera peltata" in 1797. So if you have Drosera peltata var gracilis that is now simply Drosera peltata. If you have Drosera pelta with ovoid seeds, that is now Drosera hookeri unless it is the West Australia form which is now Drosera yilgarnensis. The Asian form is now called Drosera lunata. And Drosera hookeri has essentially become the catch-all species.

Of course you can decide not to believe the differences between these taxa are sufficient for specific status and consider them all subspecies of Drosera peltata. But if you do that you have the problem that the type doesn't match what has been considered Drosera peltata var. peltata.