Editing Drosera (section)

== Distribution ==
{{see also|Carnivorous plants of Australia}}
[[File:Drosera distribution.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Distribution of the genus ''Drosera'' shown in green]]
[[File:Drosera filiformis, NJ.jpg|thumb|''Drosera filiformis'' var. ''filiformis'' in a peat bog in New Jersey]]
The [[Range (biology)|range]] of the sundew genus stretches from Alaska in the north to New Zealand in the south. The centers of [[Biodiversity|diversity]] are Australia, with roughly 50% of all known species, and South America and southern Africa, each with more than 20 species. A few species are also found in large parts of Eurasia and North America. These areas, however, can be considered to form the outskirts of the generic range, as the ranges of sundews do not typically approach temperate or Arctic areas. Contrary to previous supposition, the evolutionary [[speciation]] of this genus is no longer thought to have occurred with the breakup of [[Gondwana]] through [[continental drift]]. Rather, speciation is now thought to have occurred as a result of a subsequent wide dispersal of its range.<ref name="Hasebe, Mitsuyasu-2003">{{cite journal | author= Rivadavia, Fernando | author2= Kondo, Katsuhiko | author3= Kato, Masahiro | author4= Hasebe, Mitsuyasu | name-list-style=amp| title= Phylogeny of the sundews, ''Drosera'' (Droseraceae), based on chloroplast rbcL and nuclear 18S ribosomal DNA Sequences | journal=[[American Journal of Botany]] | volume=90 | year=2003 | pages=123–130 | doi= 10.3732/ajb.90.1.123  | issue=1 | pmid=21659087| doi-access=free }}</ref> The origins of the genus are thought to have been in Africa or Australia.<ref name="Hasebe, Mitsuyasu-2003" />

Europe is home to only three species: ''[[Drosera intermedia|D. intermedia]]'', ''[[Drosera anglica|D. anglica]]'', and ''[[Drosera rotundifolia|D. rotundifolia]]''. Where the ranges of the two latter species overlap, they sometimes hybridize to form the sterile ''[[Drosera anglica#Hybrids|D. × obovata]]''. In addition to the three species and the hybrid native to Europe, North America is also home to four additional species; ''[[Drosera brevifolia|D. brevifolia]]'' is a small [[Annual plant|annual]] native to coastal states from [[Texas]] to [[Virginia]], while ''[[Drosera capillaris|D. capillaris]]'', a slightly larger plant with a similar range, is also found in areas of the Caribbean. The third species, ''[[Drosera linearis|D. linearis]]'', is native to the northern United States and southern Canada. ''[[Drosera filiformis|D. filiformis]]'' has two [[subspecies]] native to the East Coast of North America, the [[Gulf Coast]], and the [[Florida panhandle]].

This genus is often described as [[cosmopolitan distribution|cosmopolitan]], meaning it has worldwide distribution. The botanist [[Ludwig Diels]], author of the only [[monograph]] of the family to date, called this description an "arrant misjudgment of this genus' highly unusual distributional circumstances (''arge Verkennung ihrer höchst eigentümlichen Verbreitungsverhältnisse'')", while admitting sundew species do "occupy a significant part of the Earth's surface (''einen beträchtlichen Teil der Erdoberfläche besetzt'')".<ref name="Diels-1906">{{cite journal |last1=Diels |first1=Friedrich Ludwig Emil |title=Droseraceae
|journal=Das Pflanzenreich 
|editor-last=Engler 
|editor-first= Adolf
|volume=  IV
|issue= 112 
|date=1906 
|url=https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/en/records/item/10988-droseraceae-in-engler-das-pflanzenreich-heft-26-iv-112?offset=2 |access-date=14 March 2022}}</ref> 
He particularly pointed to the absence of ''Drosera'' species from almost all [[arid]] climate zones, countless [[rainforest]]s, the American Pacific Coast, [[Polynesia]], the Mediterranean region, and North Africa, as well as the scarcity of species diversity in temperate zones, such as Europe and North America.<ref name="Diels-1906" />