Cape Sundew

Drosera capensis is a rosette-forming sundew from the Cape region of South Africa whose long leaves, covered in sticky glands, curl around trapped insects. It is one of the most widely grown and easiest sundews.

Drosera capensis is a perennial herb that forms a rosette typically 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) across, occasionally up to 12 inches (30 cm). Its narrow, oblong leaves are held semi-erect on a distinct petiole, and the remains of old leaves gradually build a short stem, usually about 1.6 inches (4 cm) long but sometimes several inches. The roots are few, thick and up to about 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) long.

The species is variable. Growers recognize several informal forms, including a 'typical' form, narrow-leaved forms, an 'alba' form with white flowers and pale tentacles, and an all-red form. Drosera 'Albino' and Drosera 'Narrow Leaf' have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

In summer the plant produces one to three flower stalks, usually 6-10 inches (15-25 cm) tall, each with roughly 15-30 flowers that open in sequence from the base. The petals are usually pale purple. The flowers are self-fertile and self-pollinating, and large numbers of tiny seeds ripen four to five weeks after pollination.

D. capensis is tetraploid (2n = 40). A red-leaved form was the first sundew, and the first carnivorous plant of the order Caryophyllales, to have its whole genome sequenced.

Faritra teratany: Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa

Zone toetr'andro: Warm temperate; survives brief frost but not prolonged freezing

Native to the south coast of the Western Cape, from Cape Town north to Gifberg and east into the Eastern Cape as far as Port Elizabeth. It grows from sea level to about 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in permanently wet places such as seeps, creek margins and coastal wetlands, in peaty or sandy soil, on moss-covered rocks, in quartzite rubble or in sphagnum. Although considered a weed in cultivation, it is often uncommon and localized in the wild, becoming numerous where competing plants are cleared, for example after fire. It has become naturalized in several other countries after deliberate introductions.

Habe matotra: Rosette 4-6 in (10-15 cm) across, up to 12 in (30 cm); flower stalks 6-10 in (15-25 cm)

Taham-pitomboana: Fast

Karazana fandrika: Flypaper Trap

The upper leaf surface is covered in stalked glands (tentacles) that secrete droplets of sticky mucilage containing digestive enzymes. Long tentacles line the margins and shorter ones the center. When an insect touches the marginal tentacles they bend toward the leaf center, bringing it into contact with more glands. The leaf blade itself then slowly bends around the prey, and in D. capensis can roll through more than 180 degrees. The bending is caused by a growth hormone signal (auxin) sent from the leaf tip toward the point of capture. The mucilage is about six times as viscous as water and can be drawn into threads up to about 3 feet (1 m) long.

It was one of the five Drosera species in Linnaeus's Species Plantarum of 1753.
Its leaf can roll more than 180 degrees around a captured insect.
Fresh mucilage can be drawn into sticky threads up to about 1 m long.
It was the first sundew to have its genome sequenced (about 264 million base pairs).
It is listed as a pest plant in New Zealand, where it is banned from sale and propagation.
In Albion Bog, Mendocino County, California, planted D. capensis has outcompeted the native sundew D. rotundifolia.
It has no IUCN Red List assessment; the South African national Red List lists it as Least Concern.

D. capensis entered Western botany at the end of the 17th century from specimens gathered at the Cape of Good Hope. Early phrase-name descriptions appeared in John Ray's Historia Plantarum (1704) and in Johannes Burman's Rariorum Africanarum Plantarum (1739), which included a detailed engraving. Carl Linnaeus included it as one of five Drosera species in Species Plantarum (1753). In 1757 John Hill described it in English as the "African Drosera", recommending it as a garden curiosity that could be grown alongside Sarracenia, and it has been cultivated in Europe since the mid-18th century. Carl Thunberg collected it at the Cape between 1772 and 1775. Today it is among the most widely grown sundews and has been studied as a source of bioactive compounds such as the naphthoquinone ramentaceone.

1. Drosera capensis, Wikipedia
2. Drosera, Wikipedia
3. Growing Subtropical Drosera, International Carnivorous Plant Society
4. African and Madagascan Drosera species, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)