Drosera capensis, commonly known as the Cape sundew, is a perennial
rosette-forming
carnivorous plant in the family
Droseraceae. It is
endemic to the
Western Cape and
Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. As in all
sundews, the leaves are covered in stalked,
mucilage-secreting glands (or 'tentacles') that attract, trap, and digest
arthropod prey. When prey is captured, the tentacles bend inward and the leaves curl around it, preventing escape and enhancing digestion by increasing the surface area of the leaf in contact with the prey. This
time-lapse video shows a
D. capensis leaf curling up around a
Mediterranean fruit fly over a period of approximately six hours.
Video credit: Scott Schiller
