Drosera brevifolia Pursh (1813: 211)

Gonella, Paulo Minatel, Sano, Paulo Takeo, Rivadavia, Fernando & Fleischmann, Andreas, 2022, A synopsis of the genus Drosera (Droseraceae) in Brazil, Phytotaxa 553 (1), pp. 1-76 : 23-25

4. Drosera brevifolia Pursh (1813: 211) . Figures 4a, 10a–c

Lectotype (designated by Wood 1966):—USA. Georgia, Enslen s.n. (PH-00038954 image!, right-hand individual).

= Drosera maritima Saint-Hilaire (1826: 264) .

Lectotype:— URUGUAY. Pão de Assucar [Cerro Pan de Azúcar] dans la Provincia Cisplatina, s.d., Saint-Hilaire C 2-2153bis [lectotype P–00749142!, first-step lectotype designated by Correa & Silva (2005) , second-step lectotype designated here; isolectotypes P-00749141!, P-00749143!, MPU-012265 image!].

= Drosera annua Reed (1915: 246) .

Lectotype (designated here):— USA. Texas: [Brazos Co.,] College Station , s.d., E.L. Reed s.n. (NY-00387794!).

= Drosera chiapasensis Matuda (1957: 362) .

Type:— MEXICO. Chiapas: en orilla de lago, en camino del Rancho de San José del Arco , 22 January 1952, Rzedowski 729 (holotype MEXU image!; isotype ENCB-008567 image!) .

= Drosera leucantha Shinners (1962: 57) .

Type:— USA. Georgia: Glynn Co., St. Simons Island , near Brumswick, 11 April 1947, A. Cronquist 4255 (holotype BRIT-23556; isotypes GA-28179 image!, GH-00042391 image!, NY-00387796!, US-1927970!) .

Seasonal geophyte perennial or biannual, supposedly also annual ( Krupa 2019), rosetted, acaulescent. Leaves decumbent, with geniculate-involute vernation, distinctly petiolate, spatulate, lamina broadly obovate to cuneate, bilaterally symmetrical, unifacial marginal glands (“snap tentacles”) very conspicuous at the leaf apex; both glandular and eglandular trichomes present on leaves; stipules fully absent or reduced to two small setae adnate to the margins of the leaf base. Scape erect at the base, glandular-pilose towards apex; petals pink; gynoecium 3-carpelate, styles bifurcated at the base. Seeds ovoid to ellipsoid, testa reticulate.

Illustrations: — Saint-Hilaire (1826: t. XXV, fig. B—as Drosera maritima ); Silva & Giulietti (1997: 103, fig. 14— habit and details); Duno de Stefano et al. (2001: 10, fig. 1—habit and details).

Distribution: — Drosera brevifolia presents a disjunct distribution in the Americas, occurring in North America in the southern and southeastern United States and in southern Mexico; in Central America and the Antilles, it occurs in Belize and in Cuba; and, in South America, in Brazil (Northeast: PE, SE; South: PR, RS, SC; Fig. 4a), in northeastern Argentina, southwestern Paraguay, and in eastern Uruguay. The species was recently first recorded for northeastern Brazil, in Sergipe ( Carregosa et al. 2015), and is here first reported for Pernambuco.

Habitat: —In southern Brazil, D. brevifolia is commonly found on coastal open areas in sandy soils (restingas) at sea level, and more rarely further inland in field physiognomies (campos gerais) with sandy soil, up to 1200 m a.s.l. In northeastern Brazil, small, isolated populations were recently discovered in wet areas of the Serra de Itabaiana (around 220 m a.s.l.), in Sergipe, and over wet rocks of an inselberg, around 830 m a.s.l., in Pernambuco.

Phenology:— In South Brazil, D. brevifolia can be found in flower from August to April, with a peak between September and November, corresponding to early wet season. Data is limited for the Northeast range, with a single specimen collected with flowers in October in Sergipe, corresponding to early dry season.

Conservation status: —Least Concern (LC). In Brazil ( Brazil: AOO= 272 km 2, EOO= 775,450 km 2; global: AOO= 1,524 km 2, EOO= 28,853,136 km 2), D. brevifolia is a widespread species (albeit disjunctly), frequently forming numerous and large populations along the coast of southern Brazil, where it can also be found growing in disturbed, ruderal (yet oligotrophic) habitats. However, its distribution in Northeastern Brazil seems to be very restricted to fragile environments, where further data is necessary to evaluate if it can be categorized under some degree of threat locally. It is found inside the Aparados da Serra (RS) and Serra de Itabaiana (SE) National Parks.

Notes: — Drosera brevifolia is unique among the Brazilian taxa in having stipules reduced to two filiform lateral setae, or completely absent. It is also the only Brazilian species of D. sect. Drosera to present both glandular and eglandular trichomes on the leaves.

Drosera maritima was described by Saint-Hilaire (1826) based on two different specimens, from different localities (C2-1804 and C2-2153bis). Correa & Silva (2005) designated the specimen “ C2-2153 ” [sic!] at P as the lectotype, however, a close inspection of Saint-Hilaire’s field notebook and the two specimens revealed that the labels with the locality data are switched. According to Saint-Hilaire’s notebook, the specimen C2-1804 was collected in Araranguá (Santa Catarina, South Brazil), while the specimen C2-2153bis (written only “C2-2153” on the specimen’s main label, but correctly written on the small labels attached to the plants) was collected in the “Pão de Assucar, prov. Cisplatina [ Uruguay]”. Finally, many duplicates of the specimen C2-2153bis are found at P, making it necessary to select a single one as the lectotype (ICN Art. 9.17; Turland et al. 2018); we thus designate here as the (second-step) lectotype the specimen to which Saint-Hilaire’s handwritten description is attached.

In the list of examined specimens of D. maritima in the Flora Brasiliensis treatment, Eichler (1872: 391) mentions a dwarf form (“ cum forma nana ”) when referring to the specimen Sellow 2266 (B100272047!). While this could be interpreted as the publication of a name under the taxonomic rank of forma ( Schlauer 2021), it is clear that Eichler (1782) had no intention of doing so by the lack of a heading and a diagnosis for such name, both of which are given as standard practice when a new name is published in the Flora Brasiliensis . This is further supported by the observation of the examined specimens of D. villosa (Eichler 1982: 395) , where the statements inside parentheses are descriptions of specimens with divergent/abberant morphology.

The Cuban Drosera moaensis Panfet (1991: 27) , although not listed as a synonym of D. brevifolia by Correa & Silva (2005) , was considered as such in the comments under that species in the Flora Neotropica treatment. However, after examination of the isotypes at B and K, it is clear that both species are not conspecific and that D. moaensis represents an independent taxon but further information will be provided in a seperate study.

Drosera annua and D. leucantha are synonyms of D. brevifolia ( Mellichamp 2015) . Reed (1915), when describing D. annua , did not mention a type, but instead indicated that he had based his description on specimens collected by himself that were sent to NY, MO, US, and BKL. Among these syntypes, we have chosen the specimen NY-00387794 as a lectotype as it is the most complete specimen and also bears a letter from E.L. Reed to J.K. Small (at the time curator at NY) indicating that, if the species was to be recognized as new, he would name it “annualia”. Although other specimens collected by E.L. Reed were studied (e.g., NY-00387795, US-00331616), it is not possible to ascertain if these represent the same gathering, therefore these are considered remaining syntypes.

Representative specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Paraná: Palmeira, Rio das Pombas, 25 November 2006, Rivadavia & Rohrbacher 2445 ( SPF) . Pernambuco: Agrestina, inselbergue Pedra Cabeça de Velho , 832 m, no date, Gomes et al. 446 ( IPA, RB, UFP) . Santa Catarina: “Araranguá, sur les confins de prov. de St. Catherine et Rio Grande”, Saint-Hilaire C 2-1804 (P-00749144!—original material of D. maritima ). Laguna , terreno baldio beirando estrada de terra para o norte da cidade, 06 September 2004, Rivadavia 1857 ( SPF) . Sergipe: Areia Branca, Serra de Itabaiana , 220 m, 12 October 2007, Amorim et al. 144 ( ASE, RB, UFP) . Rio Grande do Sul: São Leopoldo , October 1941, Leite 541 ( NY) .