Drosera scorpioides brings height to a group best known for miniature rosettes. Its living crown stands above a stem clothed in old growth, while upturned leaves suggest the raised tail that inspired its name. The shape is distinctive, but identification becomes more reliable when the flower stalk is examined too.
Identity, appearance and similar species
Boaz Ng records D. scorpioides from south-western Western Australia, in sand and pebbly laterite among heath and open woodland. His photographs document plants along the south coast and towards the Darling Scarp. The petioles bear glands, and the flowering stalk and sepals have a woolly covering of long, gland-tipped hairs. Fierce Flora field account
Other pygmy sundews also build raised crowns. Ng distinguishes D. lasiantha by its combination of long non-glandular hairs and short glandular hairs, whereas the conspicuous long hairs of D. scorpioides end in glands. This is a more useful comparison than selecting a name by stem height alone. Comparative identification
A hand lens or close photograph should show the hair tips clearly. Keep a side view of the whole plant as well: a cropped flower photograph and a cropped rosette photograph each omit part of the identification evidence.
The crown also produces gemmae
Gemmae are vegetative propagules, so a plant raised from one is a clonal continuation of its parent rather than a seedling. Greg Bourke’s experiments used D. scorpioides to examine raindrop dispersal from the cup formed around developing gemmae. The tests supported splash dispersal but did not support the proposed autonomous spring-loaded ejection mechanism. Bourke’s preliminary dispersal study
The same study found contrasting floating and sinking behaviour in two D. scorpioides accessions from different habitats, and called for broader sampling. That is a reason to preserve provenance, not a basis for assigning every plant a new taxonomic name. Accession-level observations
Cultivation in a collection
The Bogman Plantenstein grower’s pygmy-sundew guide recommends deep pots, a freely draining peat-and-mineral mixture, strong light and low-mineral water. It keeps the substrate moist, allowing tray water to be used before refilling, and notes that severe summer heat can interrupt growth. These are group-level cultivation observations that include D. scorpioides, not measured limits for every accession. Grower’s pygmy-sundew guide
For this raised species, give the crown room around neighbouring plants. Observe new leaves and the crown centre rather than removing every old leaf for neatness. A stable mature plant is also a useful source of future propagation material.
Starting another generation of pots
Greg Bourke recommends placing fresh gemmae on the surface of wet growing medium and keeping them moist while they establish. This avoids treating them like dormant seed to be buried and stored indefinitely. Pygmy propagation account
Label the new pot before placing the gemmae. Record the parent accession, collection date and number planted, and space them with the mature rosettes in mind. Keeping accessions separate prevents a convenient propagation tray from becoming an untraceable mixture.
A useful display and observation plant
The stem, crown and seasonal gemmae make D. scorpioides an effective plant for explaining growth over time. Photograph the same pot from the side every few months. The resulting record shows how a miniature sundew builds structure, renews its leaves and produces new plants without requiring a flower to do so.
Nano Nursery Drosera Encyclopedia — species profile. Related core chapters: 16, 17 and 29. Reviewed 23 September 2026. Cultivation guidance concerns established plants; recently deflasked plants need separate acclimatisation.
