Drosera nidiformis — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Drosera nidiformis — the trap in close-up — **The trap in close-up** · Photo: incidencematrix in cultivation — CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Drosera nidiformis — the flower — **The flower** · Photo: Piotr Górecki — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Identification

A rosette of obliquely erect, spatulate trapping leaves with red tentacles, together forming a shallow cup — the 'nest' of the name. The scape rises from the centre of the rosette. Reliable measurements and a flower colour from the original description were not available for this text; the measurement fields are left empty.

Similar species

Drosera natalensis and D. dielsiana are the main confusion species; their rosettes usually lie flatter. Drosera madagascariensis forms a stem with scattered leaves, and D. burkeana has short, round blades.

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. The upright leaves also catch insects flying just above the ground.

Habitat and ecology

Wet places in grassland and on mountain slopes in the summer-rainfall region: seeps, wet rock sheets and marsh margins (W4, R1, B6). Specific habitat data are scarce.

Distribution and elevation

South Africa: the east of the country, in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (as this guide's working list states). 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 cells are 3 one-degree squares — 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: the locality of poached species is obscured at source. At this scale that obscuring disappears into the noise. The cells show where it has been seen, not where it occurs: an empty square means nothing.

Forms and variation

No varieties. The species belongs to a group of small rosetted sundews of the summer-rainfall region (with D. natalensis, D. dielsiana and D. collinsiae) whose mutual delimitation is not settled in every respect. Some authors have linked D. nidiformis with D. natalensis; Kew accepts it as a separate species.

Where and when to see it

Search in the wet summer months on wet slopes and in seep zones. The cup-shaped rosette distinguishes it from the flat rosettes of most relatives.

Conservation status

Not assessed for the global IUCN Red List and not listed in CITES. Wet grasslands in eastern South Africa are under pressure from forestry plantations, agriculture and overgrazing.

Scientific name

Drosera nidiformis | Debbert, 1991

Drosera nidiformis was described by Peter Debbert, dated 1991 (published 1992), in Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München, volume 30, p. 374. The type material originates from Natal (present-day KwaZulu-Natal), South Africa, and was collected by P. Debbert (collection number 124). The description is based on material cultivated at the Munich Botanical Garden, May 1991; the precise wild origin of this material could not be established further. The name is descriptive Latin, composed of "nidus" ("nest") and the suffix "-formis" ("shaped"), thus meaning "nest-shaped" — a reference to the shape of the leaf rosette, which resembles a small bird's nest.

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