Drosera rupicola

Description

Please note: this is a winter growing species and is dormant between April-October.

Drosera rupicola is a winter-growing, tuberous sundew from Australia, active through the cooler, wetter months and dormant from roughly April through October. Like other tuberous Drosera, it retreats completely to an underground tuber during summer. This species forms a low, scrambling plant with larger-than-usual paddles, often saturated a vivid orange and carrying an unusually thick, gel-like mucilage held on fine appendages for insect capture. In habitat it grows nestled along seasonal streamlines fed by winter rains, where tubers remain buried until moss spreads across sandy soil and the surrounding, fire-prone grasslands begin to come back to life. As summer approaches, the plant naturally dies back and disappears entirely until cooler conditions return. The plants offered here were grown from tuber offsets and are established in 3.25-inch pots.

When the plants die back at the beginning of summer, remove the pots from their water trays and allow them to dry out, but ensure the pots are protected from intense light and heat. Once a month, gently top water the pots so the soil does not completely dessicate. Around September place the pots back into water trays and await their new growth!