Tracy’s or Gulf Coast threadleaf sundew Tracy’s or Gulf Coast threadleaf sundew

Drosera filiformis Rafinesque var. tracyi Diels in H. G. A. Engler, Pflanzenr. 26[IV,112]: 92. 1906

Plants forming winter hibernaculae, rosettes 1 cm diam.; stem base bulbous-cormose, from expanded petiole base, 1–2 cm, woolly. Leaves erect; stipules adnate to petioles their entire length, 10 mm, margins fimbriate, forming woolly appearance of cormose base; petiole not differentiated from blade; blade filiform, 30–50 cm × 1–2 mm, <glandular trichomes pale green, drying pale greenish brown>. Inflorescences 4–12(–24)-flowered; scapes 25–60 cm, glabrous. <Pedicels glandular-pilose.> Flowers 15–30 mm diam.; sepals connate basally, oblong to elliptic, 4–7 × 2–3 mm, glandular-pilose; petals rose, (rarely white), broadly ovate, 12–17(–20) × 15 mm, <apical margins erose>. Capsules 5–6 mm. Seeds black, ellipsoid, <abruptly caudate-truncate at both ends>, 0.5–0.8 mm, coarsely crateriform, pits in 16–20 lines. 2n = 20.

Flowering late May–Jun. Hillside seepage bogs and ecotones between pine savannas and bay-gum-cypress wetlands, wet roadside ditches and borrow pits, shores of sinkhole ponds; 0–70 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss.

Drosera tracyi occurs on the Gulf Coastal Plain from southwestern Georgia to southeastern Louisiana. The species has been reported from South Carolina; no specimens from there have been seen. The leaves and flowers are larger than those of D. filiformis. An anthocyanin-free form with white flowers is known.

B. A. Sorrie (1998b) gave evidence from morphology and ecology that Drosera tracyi is distinct from D. filiformis. Drosera filiformis has been found growing with D. tracyi in Bay and Washington counties, Florida, without apparent hybrids (Sorrie). This seems to be a natural disjunction, but D. filiformis has been planted outside its range. An artificial hybrid, which is sterile, between these two species has resulted in a cultivar named ‘California Sunset.’