About
A perennial rosette-forming carnivorous sundew, Drosera capensis 'Albino' uses sticky, glandular leaves to trap and digest small insects. Its leaves are elongate and mobile, able to curl around captured prey. Flowers appear on thin scapes and bloom from May to August. It belongs to the Droseraceae family and is a cultivated form of the Cape sundew.
About the genus
Drosera, which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow.
Wikipedia contributors, "Drosera", CC BY-SA 4.0 — Drosera
In the garden
Drosera capensis 'Albino' is a cultivar of the Cape sundew, a perennial carnivorous herb from the Cape region of South Africa. Like its species, it forms a rosette of elongate leaves covered in stalked glands that secrete sticky mucilage; these glands both capture and begin to digest arthropod prey, and the leaves can curl to aid digestion. The cultivar name 'Albino' denotes its pale leaf and gland appearance compared with typical forms. Grow it in a permanently moist, nutrient-poor medium and avoid feeding with standard fertilisers; the plant gains mineral nutrients from captured insects rather than from enriched compost. Provide good light so leaves remain elongated and active, and keep the growing position reliably damp rather than allowing the compost to dry out between waters. In cultivation it produces flowering scapes in the UK from May to August and sets few demands beyond a consistently wet, low-nutrient substrate. It suits a small bog planting or container culture where water levels can be controlled and is also commonly grown under glass. Regular removal of spent flower stalks keeps the rosette clear; the most characteristic behaviour to watch for is the sticky leaves slowly curling round trapped prey as digestion proceeds.
