dear foristas,
here are some pictures of Drosera capillaris in our beautyfull french guyana countryside :
the plants are located in flat herbaceous ares, called "savanas". the soil of these savanas is made of a layer of thin white sand on a rocky, latteritic ground.
the thickness of the sand layer may be different from one place to another, but the poorness of nutrients of this soil dint let tall plants thrive well : the soil is covered with short grasses, and here and there we can see a very small tree.
the soil is also covered with a very thin layer of organic debris which have been brought here by the water. algea develop in it. the soil is saturated with water in the rainy season, he is covered with water in some areas, wereas in the dry season, he dries out and become rock hard.
thus, some Drosera colonies thrive under a thin layer of water. these plants are bigger than the one growing in drier stations.
plants seem to be annual. during the dry season, you cant find anything. the growing plants mesure about 3cm in diameter, and this is for the very biggest !
they thrive in small groups, and I was able to find them everywhere along the coast of French Guyana. along the coast, you can find savanas, swamps, and secondary forets. all the rest of our country is covered with deep forest, like you can find in State Amazonas.
the amount of plants I find at each visit is small...I dont know why, maybe it's the influence of the drainage of the savanas (for the cattle industry) that leads to this situation....I was said that "in earlier years", you could find carpets of Drosera.....
Drosera capillaris is a very variable plant. I think I have identified the plants correctly, but any correction of the ID or comment is welcome.
I found different shapes of leaves : they can be round, like D.rotundifolia, they can be spatulate, like D.spatulata, or they can be more or less "triangular".
the petioles can be long and thin (spatulate leaves) or short and large (round and "triangular" leaves), but they are never covered with hairs. this is true, but I found a plant covered with very thin hair, and this plant was a Drosera capillaris.
at the point where the petiole attaches to the stem, the leaf axil, you can see little hairs and also very small vegetal parts (name ? )
the flower stem mesures from 10cm to 20cm, it depends if the plant grow in a open station ( like a little sand "island" ) or in a closed station ( like in areas covered with tall grasses ). flowers are pink to rose, I didn't see any white flower. nore any variation in the dimension of the flowers. the flowers opens one after the other, whilst the floral stem grew.
I didn't manage to find many seed pods, because you dont see many floral stem wich have accomplished their entire cyclus. it isn't easy, also, to be "there" at the right moment !
it seem to me that all along the growth season, when we approach to the dry season, more and more of the smallest plants disappear, while only the tallest survive until the dry season begins. this is to be confirmed, of course.
the plants thrive best in sunny locations. they seem to prefer direct sunlight : you cant find many plants "under" the grasses ; in this particular case, the plants stay green. there is no other special character like "bigger plants because of the fresh location under grasses"...
I hope you enjoyed this report and that you survived my terribly broken english.
there are more pictures to come.