Description: Perennial or annual herbs with rhizomes, fibrous roots, or tubers with vertical underground stolon. Stems usually very short, sometimes long and erect, [or climbing and to 1.5 m long].
Leaves circinate, either all basal in a rosette, or basal and cauline, or all cauline, the upper surface covered with glandular hairs that trap insects, rarely leaves glabrous.
Flowers mostly in cymes, often raceme-like, or solitary, usually terminal, often glandular. Sepals, petals and stamens mostly 5, free or the sepals shortly united at base.
Fruit a loculicidal capsule.
Distribution and occurrence: World: >90 species, world-wide. Australia: 54 species (42 species in SW Australia), all States.
Text by G. J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Cauline leaves peltate with lamina concave, circular, reniform or crescent-shaped | 2 |
| Cauline leaves absent, if present then lamina linear, spathulate or fan-shaped, not peltate | 6 |
| 2 | Sepals variously hairy, sometimes glabrous; margin fimbriate | 3 |
| Sepals glabrous; margin entire, erose or denticulate
Back to 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Basal rosette of leaves red; cauline leaves <6 mm wide; sepals 0.1–1.5 mm wide; seeds ovoid to obovoid,0.4–0.8 mm long, with surface shallowly reticulate | Drosera peltata |
| Basal rosette of leaves yellow-green; cauline leaves up to 10 mm wide; sepals 0.7–2.4 mm wide; seeds cylindrical, pandurate to obovoid, 0.5–0.8 mm long, with surface deeply pitted
Back to 2 | Drosera hookeri |
| 4 | Seeds always cylindrical, usually > 1 mm long | Drosera auriculata |
| Seeds ovoid or arachiform, rarely cylindrical and then < 1 mm long
Back to 2 | 5 |
| 5 | Seed surface shallowly pitted; seeds ovoid, < 0.4 mm long | Drosera lunata |
| Seed surface deeply pitted; seed shape variable, ovoid, arachiform to shortly cylindrical, 0.5–0.8 mm long
Back to 4 | Drosera hookeri |
| 6 | Leaves simple, linear or if forked then lobes linear | 7 |
| Leaves simple, varying from orbicular, obovate to flabellate, never linear nor forked
Back to 1 | 10 |
| 7 | Leaves cauline, simple | Drosera indica |
| Leaves basal, simple or forked
Back to 6 | 8 |
| 8 | Leaves usually forked once, sometimes more; lobes 20–100 mm long; corolla white | Drosera binata |
| Leaves simple, unlobed; corolla white to pink-mauve
Back to 7 | 9 |
| 9 | Inflorescences 15–30-flowered; corolla usually pink-mauve (cultivars of dark pink or white are available) | Drosera capensis |
| Inflorescences 1(–2)-flowered; corolla white
Back to 8 | Drosera arcturi |
| 10 | Leaves sessile or petiole shorter than lamina | 11 |
| Leaves with a distinct petiole, longer than the lamina
Back to 6 | 12 |
| 11 | Bracts simple; calyx minutely glandular; styles 3, divided in 2 to base | Drosera spatulata |
| Bracts trifid; calyx tuberculate; styles 5, filiform
Back to 10 | Drosera burmanni |
| 12 | Sepals and petals 5; inflorescence many-flowered, flowers orange or red; leaves not peltate, 10–20 mm long | Drosera glanduligera |
| Sepals and petals 4; flowers solitary, white; leaves peltate, 3–7 mm long
Back to 10 | Drosera pygmaea |
|
