I am thrilled to announce the publication of Florida’s first state-endemic carnivorous plant species: Drosera floridana (B.Rice) Juve & A.Fleischm.  This taxonomic treatment represents the culmination of my years of work studying the thread-leaf sundews in-situ across 6 states and 25 counties.

Formerly known as D. filiformis var. floridana, our publication not only establishes D. floridana as a distinct taxonomic entity recognizable at species rank, but further brings into question the legitimacy of its putative affinity to the allopatric, northerly D. filiformis sensu stricto. 

As a result of our treatment, Drosera x arenaria (B.Rice) Juve & A.Fleischm. is elevated from Dx californica nothovar. arenaria.  Like D. floridana, Dx arenaria is a Florida-endemic taxon, and the only described Drosera nothospecies native to the state.

This article is in dedication to Barry Rice for his long-lasting, passionate and thorough work on the carnivorous plants of America, especially on the thread-leaf sundews— leaves long and prosper!

I would like to thank not only my wonderful coauthor Dr. Andreas Fleischmann for his invaluable input and assistance with this project, but additionally my many collaborators without whom a taxonomic treatment of the D. filiformis complex to this length would not have be possible.  Among these are: Jason Ksepka, Fernando Rivadavia, Steve Orzell, Tyler Gramley, and Carson Trexler.

A special thanks goes to my good friend Alexander Dietrick for his supplemental help regarding this project.

I am additionally grateful to the International Carnivorous Plant Society - ICPS for their special online publication of this article.

“The Florida endemic sundew Drosera floridana elevated to species rank” can be read in the open access publication below:

 https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn554.nj739

https://cpn.carnivorousplants.org/Article.php/CPNv55n4p132-151

Florida’s first state-endemic carnivorous plant species has been described!