Drosera Cistiflora in Greyton area in South Africa

[zoit]

Found these D Cistiflora growing all over the place. Thought I will share some photos.

I also found a weird orchid growing with the sundews. Orchid called Satyrium Pumilum. These orchids attract flies for pollination by secreting a scent similliar to rotting meat or carrion. Not a very strong scent, but strong enough to get the flies attention

[kentosaurs]

Nice We don't get to see many picturs of wild CPs from africa...And that orchid is one of the smallest i've seen. Great find

[jimmy0123]

I Love the orchid, quite interesting. Thx for sharing

[David]

Lovely pictures... and they are producing lots of seed pods. Thanks for sharing

[Tarence]

were there any sundews which were in good condition ? ie green or red, healthy leaves etc.

from your pics, the conditions don`t look very suitable for a sundew, is there like a stream or river nearby ? or a bog, lake ? i`m just curious.

cute orchid. in m`sia we have very tiny wild orchids too, much smaller than this but no dead meat scent to lure insects for pollination.

thx for the pix, always lovely to see CPs in situ. *smile*

[zoit]

These sundews grow in the winter and specialise in surviving in dry conditions. This area is a winter rain area so it will dry out very soon. Current temp is 25 deg C, but the spring temperature will now rise to 35 deg C by Jan. Then all these plants will be gone. These sundews and orchids grow together all over the Western Cape, the province where I a from.

In the wetter area I found some plants in better shape, but it is going past their time now.

I also found some pterygodium catholicum orchids. Like the satyrium orchid, they survive because of their bulb below the soil. Funny enough, these orchids also have a scent similliar to old oil. I have attached a photo. As you can see in the photo, very dry area.