Drosera madagascariensis

The most widespread sundew in tropical Africa, and also the most exploited. An estimated 10-200 million plants are wild-harvested from Madagascar every year for the herbal medicine trade, making it critically endangered on the island despite being common across the continent. Its range stretches from Mali and Guinea across to Kenya and south to Eswatini.

D. madagascariensis is a stem-forming species of bogs, marshes, river margins and seasonally flooded savannahs. Stems reach about 25 cm but rarely stand upright on their own, frequently leaning on nearby grasses for support. It is extremely variable across its range: large, robust forms with yellowish-green leaves occur in central Africa and Madagascar, while dwarfed, near-stemless forms with reddish leaves also exist and were once described as a separate species.

One reliable way to tell it apart from its close relatives D. affinis and D. flexicaulis: old leaves fold back against the stem while still green, rather than staying spread out. Leaf blades are broadly elliptical, up to 15 x 7 mm. Flowers are pink.

This is the Okavango Delta form from Botswana, near the southwestern limit of the species' range.