Drosera aliciae

Alice’s sundew

Drosera aliciae is a common, well-known rosetted sundew species with a wide range within the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. It can be found in the coastal mountain bands running from the Cape Peninsula in the west through to Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). The range extends Northwards in the Cape Floristic Region reaching into the Groot Winterhoek mountains. This species grows in a tight rosette to around 5cm across with fairly short petioles and hairy abaxial surfaces to the leaf, which is usually green in healthy plants. Older plants form a “mound” by continuosly growing upwards on piles of older expired leaves. Another common name, the Shepherd’s Crook Sundew, comes from the fairly distinctive inflorescence that emerges horizontally from the side of the plant and bends almost 90 degrees upwards.

These sundews inhabit a range of moist habitats along streams, seeps, or small bog type environments and can often be seen on mountain passes where they colonise areas cut out for the roads. It is a perennial species and flowers in Summer, around November-January, bearing numerous small pink flowers with branched style tips.