Drosera collinsiae

A colour combination you rarely see in Drosera. This Mbuluzi River form has bright green leaf blades sitting on vivid pink-red petioles covered in white hairs, looking nothing like the typical D. collinsiae from the South African highveld. The type form holds its leaves semi-erect; this one lies flat, spreading its paddle-shaped leaves out in a prostrate rosette. Named after Maria Carolina Collins, a botanical and insect collector at the Transvaal Museum who died in 1918.

The species grows in swampy areas, seepages and on skeletal soils, often near waterfalls, typically above 1000 m. The Mbuluzi River is one of the main rivers of Eswatini, originating in the highveld north of Mbabane and cutting across the country through all four of its physiographic zones. The Eswatini forms are short-petioled compared to the long-petioled highland populations from places like Dullstroom in South Africa at 2000 m.

Rosettes reach 4-8 cm across with 7-12 spoon-shaped leaves. Can be confused with D. curvipes, which grows in similar habitats, but D. collinsiae has shorter, more spatulate leaves and a distinctive sepal shape. Flowers are pink. Plants may go fully dormant in winter, dying down to the growing point.