Drosera regia
The king sundew, a relict species with long, strap-like leaves up to about 70 cm. It survives at only two small sites in the Bainskloof range of the Western Cape. It grows in permanently damp, peaty quartzite sand among marshy grasses in fynbos that burns periodically, and dies back to a dormant bud in the cool, wet winter. Grow it in strong light with warm days, cool nights and constantly moist, deep, sandy peat.
Where it grows wild
It grows in fynbos among dense marshy grasses, restios, sedges and Leucadendron, in a valley with permanently damp soils. The substrate is peaty quartzite sand, at the lower site a gravel bench formed from a creek bed, and the rhizome runs above or below the gravel. Periodic fires clear the taller vegetation that would otherwise shade it out, so it depends on open, sunny conditions.
It is known from two sites at about 500 m and 900 m in the Bainskloof range near Wellington. Few of the wild records carry an elevation, and the single measured site is at about 630 m.
🔒 Growing it like that
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.