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The sundews are a genus of plants that supplement their diets with prey caught on sticky glands on their leaves.
When the victim is stuck fast, the glands secrete enzymes that dissolve nutrients from the prey's body, leaving an empty husk.
The pygmy sundews are distinguished from their relatives by the bristle-like stipules protecting the central growing point of
each plant, and the ability to reproduce asexually by gemmae. Their closest relatives are probably the petiolaris complex from
Australia and a South American relict species, Drosera meristocaulis.
The group gets its name from Drosera pygmaea, one of the smallest species, of which mature flowering plants can be less than a
centimetre across. At the other end of the scale, Drosera scorpioides can form a stem several centimetres tall. Some members
of the group produce vividly coloured flowers that can be wider than the plant itself.
Most pygmy sundews are found only in Western Australia, but Drosera pygmaea can also be found in several other Australian states
and New Zealand. Some forms of Drosera pygmaea are frost-tolerant, yet some are found in sub-tropical Queensland.
This is a list of species using the names accepted by Allen Lowrie:
D. androsacea (Diels)
D. barbigera (Planchon)
D. callistos (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. citrina (Lowrie & Carlquist)
D. closterostigma (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. dichrosepala (Turz)
D. echinoblastus (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. eneabba (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. enodes (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. ericksoniae (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. grievei (Lowrie & Marchant)
D. helodes (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. hyperostigma (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. lasiantha (Lowrie & Carlquist)
D. leioblastus (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. leucoblasta (Benth.)
D. mannii (Cheek)
D. microscapa (Debbert)
D. miniata (Diels)
D. nitidula ssp allantostigma (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. nitidula ssp leucostigma (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. nitidula ssp nitidula (Planchon)
D. nitidula ssp omissa ((Diels) Marchant & Lowrie)
D. nivea (Lowrie & Carlquist)
D. occidentalis ssp australis (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. occidentalis ssp occidentalis (Morrison)
D. oreopodion (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. paleacea ssp paleacea (DC.)
D. paleacea ssp trichocaulis ((Diels) Marchant & Lowrie)
D. parvula (Planchon)
D. pedicellaris (Lowrie)
D. platystigma (Lehm.)
D. pulchella (Lehm.)
D. pynoblasta (Diels)
D. pygmaea (DC.)
D. rechingeri (Strid.)
D. roseana (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. sargentii (Lowrie & Marchant)
D. scorpioides (Planchon)
D. sewelliae (Diels)
D. silvicola (Lowrie & Carlquist)
D. spilos (Marchant & Lowrie)
D. stelliflora (Lowrie & Carlquist)
D. walyunga (Marchant & Lowrie)