About Drosera erythrorhiza subsp. squamosa (Benth.) N.Marchant & Lowrie
Drosera erythrorhiza, commonly known as the red ink sundew, is a perennial tuberous carnivorous plant in the genus Drosera that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows in a rosette form, and is distinguished from other species in section Erythrorhiza by its many-flowered cymose inflorescences, which can hold up to 50 individual flowers. D. erythrorhiza was first formally described by John Lindley in his 1839 publication A sketch of the vegetation of the Swan River Colony. In 1992, N. G. Marchant and Allen Lowrie described three new subspecies of D. erythrorhiza, which also established the autonym D. erythrorhiza subsp. erythrorhiza. These subspecies were split from this variable species primarily based on differences in leaf morphology and geographic distribution. D. erythrorhiza subsp. collina is named for its native hilly habitat, and typically produces more leaves of varying shapes within a single rosette. D. erythrorhiza subsp. erythrorhiza has fewer, wider leaves compared to D. erythrorhiza subsp. magna, which has larger, wider leaves and often produces more leaves overall. Drosera erythrorhiza subsp. squamosa, the subspecies covered here, was originally described as the full species Drosera squamosa by George Bentham in 1864. Marchant and Lowrie later reclassified it as a subspecies of D. erythrorhiza. Subspecies squamosa can be told apart from D. erythrorhiza subsp. erythrorhiza by its red leaf margins, which develop due to dense red tentacles. Earlier, in his 1906 taxonomic monograph of the Droseraceae family, Ludwig Diels published a new variety: D. erythrorhiza var. imbecilla. In 1999, Jindřich Chrtek and Zdeňka Slavíková proposed an alternative competing taxonomy, in which they argued that all tuberous Drosera, which make up the entire Drosera subgenus Ergaleium, should be reclassified into Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's 1844 genus Sondera. Sondera had previously been treated as a synonym of Drosera. As part of this reclassification, Chrtek and Slavíková elevated Marchant and Lowrie's subspecies to full species rank, establishing the following species: Sondera collina, S. erythrorhiza, S. magna, and S. squamosa. This alternative reclassification is not widely accepted or followed by the scientific community.
