Drosera aliciae
{{Short description|Species of carnivorous plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Drosera aliciae 2.jpg
| genus = Drosera
| display_parents = 2
| parent = Drosera sect. Drosera
| species = aliciae
| authority = Raym.-Hamet
| synonyms =
- Drosera aliciae
auct. non Raym.-Hamet
[=Drosera aliciae/Drosera natalensis] - Drosera aliciae
auct. non Raym.-Hamet [=Drosera slackii] - Drosera curviscapa
Salt. - Drosera curviscapa var. esterhuyseniae
Salt. - Drosera esterhuyseniae
(Salt.) Debbert - ?Drosera rubrifolia
Debbert - Drosera spathulata
Hort. ex Behre
[=Drosera aliciae/Drosera spatulata]
}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2015}}
Drosera aliciae, the Alice sundew, is a carnivorous plant in the family Droseraceae. It is native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa,{{citation |title=Drosera aliciae|work=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=64240 |accessdate=2015-08-11}} like Drosera capensis, the cape sundew, and is one of the most common sundews in cultivation.
Description
The plant forms small, tight rosettes of wedge-shaped leaves, up to 5 cm in diameter. Under conditions of good lighting, the insect-snagging tentacles will become deeply coloured with anthocyanin pigments, which probably aid in its attraction of insect prey. The plant is relatively easy to grow, and produces attractive scapes of pink flowers, 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's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web
| url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/6131/Drosera-aliciae/Details | title = Drosera aliciae | website = www.rhs.org | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | accessdate = 1 June 2020}}
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.