Drosera coccipetala — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Identification

A small rosetted sundew with glandular, spatulate to wedge-shaped trapping leaves and a scape with scarlet to orange-red flowers; the flower colour is the most striking character. Reliable measurements from the original description were not available for this text; the measurement fields are left empty, except for flower colour.

Similar species

In the vegetative state the species is hard to tell from other small Cape rosetted sundews such as D. trinervia and D. aliciae. In flower the red to orange corolla is the best character; beware, however, of rare red colour forms of D. trinervia and of D. cistiflora, the latter with much larger flowers and a leafy stem.

The trap and how it works

An active flypaper trap: stalked glands with sticky droplets hold small insects, after which the tentacles bend towards the prey and the glands secrete digestive enzymes.

Habitat and ecology

Like most Cape rosetted sundews a winter grower of seasonally wet places in fynbos: seeps and wet, open sandy ground (W7, R1, B5). Specific habitat data are scarce.

Distribution and elevation

Endemic to the Cape Provinces of South Africa. A more precise range could not be established from the sources consulted; altitudinal limits were not found.

Recorded (one-degree cells)

Distribution based solely on records at GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), not on TDWG regions — those are often far larger than the actual range. The light halo is the area around a record, the dark core the record itself. The darker square is the only one-degree cell — roughly a hundred and ten kilometres — in which the species has been recorded, from all GBIF records. This is coarser than for most species because hardly any record of this plant carries an accurate coordinate. It shows where the species has been seen, not where it occurs: an empty square means nothing.

Forms and variation

The species is on the list of accepted species, but as with several of Debbert's taxa its position in the modern revisions of the Cape rosetted sundews (Fleischmann and colleagues) is not clear in every respect. Some authors see it as closely related to, or a colour variant within, the D. trinervia complex. This text follows its acceptance as a species, with reservations.

Where and when to see it

Search in spring on sunny days for small rosetted sundews with conspicuously red or orange flowers. Photographs of rosette, leaf base and flower help identification and the understanding of this little-known species.

Conservation status

Not assessed for the global IUCN Red List and not listed in CITES. Little is known about numbers and trend. The general threats to Cape fynbos — alien trees, a disturbed fire regime, drying out and conversion to farmland — apply here too.

Scientific name

Drosera coccipetala | Debbert, 2002

Described by Debbert in 2002, in Linzer Biologische Beiträge, volume 34, no. 1, p. 795. South Africa, Western Cape, Caledon, on sandy loamy soils. Collected by Debbert (no. 127); holotype at Munich (M), isotype at Berlin (B). From the Latin coccineus ("scarlet") and petala ("petals") — "red-petalled".

World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.