Species Information

Nomenclature: Drosera capensis L. 

Publication: Linnaeus, C. (1753). Species plantarum: Exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas (Vol. 1, p. 282). Impensis Laurentii Salvii.

Description: Acaulescent to caulescent herb bearing semi-erect to erect linear to oblong leaves with long petioles. Scape ascending, pubescent, and bearing many pink to lilac flowers with styles that are divided once at the base. 

Distribution in South Africa: WC, EC, NC

Habitat: Permanently wet seepages, streamsides, and wetlands in the Western, Northern, and Eastern Cape.  An opportunistic species that often colonizes road cuts on mountain passes, farm dams, and roadside ditches. 

Conservation: Widespread and abundant. Known from many nature reserves across the Cape. 

Phenology: Flowering peaks in the warmer summer months. 

Taxonomy: Although morphologically variable across its distribution, this variation is not thought to be taxonomically significant. Populations in mountain seepages can be very isolated within the drier broader landscape and gene flow is probably limited. Therefore, many recognizable localized variations have been observed. Plants from the Koue Bokkeveld, the Cederberg, and especially Gifberg tend to be redder than other populations. Compact plants with broad leaves have been observed in the Hex River and Witzenberg Mountains. Hybridization with D. admirabilis and D. aliciae also contributes to the perceived variation in this species (a cultivated wide-leaved variety from Bainskloof is an example of one of these hybrids). Plants with long internodes forming a stem have been observed near Silvermine on the Cape Peninsula and in the Hawequa Mountains.