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Drosera collinsiae
A small rosetted sundew from the summer-rainfall regions of north-eastern South Africa. Drosera collinsiae was recognised by N.E. Brown and published in 1924 by Burtt Davy in his flora of the then Transvaal and Swaziland. It is a plant of wet grassland and seeps on mountain slopes, far from the Cape.
Identification
A flat to slightly raised rosette of spatulate leaves with red tentacles, the blade narrowing gradually into the petiole. The scape carries a few pink flowers. The species closely resembles D. dielsiana; reliable published measurements were not available for this text, so the measurement fields are left empty.
Similar species
Drosera dielsiana and D. natalensis are the main confusion species; they are separated on details of leaf shape, stipules and hairiness, and a certain identification often requires a hand lens or herbarium material. Drosera burkeana has rounder blades, and D. madagascariensis forms a stem.
The trap and how it works
An active flypaper trap. Small insects stick to the tentacles' droplets, after which the surrounding tentacles bend towards the prey and the glands secrete digestive enzymes. In the wet grasslands the catch is mainly gnats, small flies and springtails.
Habitat and ecology
Permanent or seasonal seeps, wet rock sheets and waterlogged patches in grassland and open woodland, on acid, nutrient-poor soil (W4, R1, B6). The plant grows and flowers in the wet summer and rests in the dry winter.
Distribution and elevation
North-eastern South Africa, in the former Transvaal (Mpumalanga and surroundings) and adjacent KwaZulu-Natal, and Eswatini. This departs from the label 'Cape' in this guide's working list. Altitudinal limits were not found.
Forms and variation
No varieties are recognised. The species belongs to a group of small rosetted sundews of the summer-rainfall region (with D. dielsiana and D. natalensis) whose delimitation is not yet settled in every respect. Older herbarium records may therefore stand under another name.
Where and when to see it
Search in summer (December to March) on wet rock sheets and in seep zones on mountain slopes in Mpumalanga. The rosettes are small and often red; look in open places where water runs over rock.
Conservation status
Not assessed for the global IUCN Red List and not listed in CITES. Threats are mainly local: forestry plantations, which lower the water table and shade wet grassland, and mining and agriculture on the highveld.
Scientific name
Drosera collinsiae | Brown ex Burtt Davy
Described by N.E. Brown (in Burtt Davy) in 1924, in Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Kew, 1924, p. 230 (17 June 1924). The precise type locality could not be established. The species occurs across the Transvaal, Natal, Lesotho and Orange Free State region, South Africa/Lesotho. Named after a person surnamed Collins (English common name: "Collins Sundew"), but the exact identity of this person could not be established.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.