Drosera commonly known as the sundews comprises one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants. The genus includes annuals and perennials, large and small plants, and denizens of tropical, temperate, and polar habitats. They should not be confused with the ever popular Venus Fly Trap, Dionaea muscipula. These plants lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which they grow. Both the botanical name and the English common name refer to the glistening drops of mucilage at the tip of each tentacle that resemble drops of morning dew. Drosera has also been recorded for its medicinal use against warts, corns and sunburn. Ethnobotanically a tea made from the plant was also used as a tranquilizer and aphrodisiac. Whether indigenous or exotic, Sundews deserve a little corner in all carnivorous plant collections. They make fascinating indoor houseplants. These curiosity plants grow best in pots filled with a mix of our general Carnivorous Growing Medium.

Drosera pauciflora is a South African endemic species found exclusively in the Western Cape Province. It is another large-flowered, winter-growing carnivorous plant. The basal rosette of this herbaceous, insectivorous plant is compact and made up of slender leaves up to 25 mm long and 8 mm wide. The leaves are narrowly egg-shaped with the narrowest point at the base. Leaf stalks and stipules are absent. The leaves bear both knob-ended and straight tentacles. The erect, leafless flowering stem which arises from the centre of the rosette, up to 200 mm high, bears 13 large pink to mauve flowers with fringed styles in spring, and flowers profusely after fire. A fun and educational plant!