Drosera cistiflora flower

Drosera cistiflora, the poppy-flowered sundew or snotrosie (little snot rose) in Afrikaans, is a slender insectivorous perennial with a variety of flower colours. It is possible to find these plants in habitat in the Western and Eastern Cape bearing white, creamy yellow, pink, mauve, purple or red flowers! The dark-centred flowers reach up to 4 cm in diameter.

D. cistiflora may bear basal leaf rosettes or not; green oblong leaves with rounded tips form the prostrate rosette in the photo. It always has some narrow leaves along the flower stalk, albeit only a couple in the case of the plant in picture.

While Drosera flowers are pretty, towering high above the leaves, they are comparatively conventional in function, maybe even in appearance, compared to leaf functioning of these plants.

The stalked mucilaginous glands, covering the leaves like dewdrops, can be moved by the plants tentacles in response to arriving insect prey that may be digestible. Upon being touched, the tentacle bends towards the leaf centre, causing the possible food item to come into contact with more of the glands, improving the chances of a capture. 

Drosera roots are poorly developed, serving to anchor and receive moisture; nutrients have to come from the plants predatorial activities (Manning, 2009; KZN Rhino Club Newsletter, Oct 2010).