Drosera burkeana

One of the most widespread sundews in Africa, found from Congo and Kenya down to South Africa, and across to Madagascar. It favours the wettest parts of wetlands, growing in saturated peaty or sandy soils along seeps and streambanks. When water rises high enough to partially submerge the plants, rosettes elongate and grow semi-erect above the surface.

D. burkeana grows at low to mid elevations across a huge range of habitats. The Mahamba locality in southern Eswatini sits in sour highland grassveld cut by narrow drainage lines and clear mountain streams.

A small rosette species, 2-5 cm across, with spoon-shaped leaves that carry trapping glands only on the upper half of the leaf blade. That detail is the easiest way to tell it apart from the similar D. pilosa, which has densely hairy leaf stalks rather than smooth ones. Flowers are white to pink. Plants survive dry spells as dormant roots. Our plants are seed-grown from the Mahamba population, which proved to be the strongest grower out of five localities tested: larger plants, longer-lived, and more prolific seed production.