''Drosera aliciae'', the Alice sundew, is a

carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryot ...

in the family

Droseraceae Droseraceae is a family (biology), family of carnivorous flowering plants, also known as the sundew family. It consists of approximately 180 species in three Extant taxon, extant genera. Representatives of the Droseraceae are found on all conti ...

. It is native to the

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sout ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, like ''

Drosera capensis ''Drosera capensis'', commonly known as the Cape sundew, is a small rosette-forming carnivorous species of perennialVarious, ''The Reader's Digest Gardeners Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers'', Reader's Digest Association, 1992 sundew native t ...

'', the cape sundew, and is one of the most common

sundew ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous ...

s in cultivation. The plant forms small, tight rosettes of wedge-shaped

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

, up to 5 cm in diameter. Under conditions of good lighting, the insect-snagging tentacles will become deeply coloured with

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

pigments, which probably aid in its attraction of insect prey. The plant is relatively easy to grow, and produces attractive scapes of pink

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, which are held about 30 cm away from the carnivorous leaves, so as to prevent pollinators from becoming ensnared. ''D. aliciae'' is very similar in form to a number of other closely related species such as ''D. slackii'', and ''D. natalensis'': the former is rather larger with a slightly different growth habit(8 cm diameter); the latter has hairier stipules and a larger distance between leaf base and the “sticky” trichomes. ''Drosera aliciae'' has received the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. Image:Drosera aliciae Detail.jpg, Detail of leaf Image:Drosera aliciae Bluete.jpg, Flower File:DroseraAliciaeLeafFruitFly.jpg, Leaf with a fruit fly reduced to

chitin Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q138152 aliciae Flora of the Cape Provinces Carnivorous plants of Africa