Drosera capensis

Cape Sundew, Sondouw

Native to the fynbos bogs and coastal seeps of South Africa's Western and Eastern Cape, the Cape Sundew is one of the most beginner-friendly carnivorous plants in cultivation. Each strap-shaped leaf is lined with stalked glandular hairs — called tentacles — tipped with sticky mucilage that glisten like dewdrops in the light, luring and digesting small insects to compensate for the nutrient-poor soils it grows in naturally. In bright or direct light, the tentacles flush a vivid red against green leaf tissue. It does best in an open terrarium or bog dish where light is strong and fresh air reaches it; the substrate must stay continuously wet and the plant must only ever be watered with distilled water or rainwater — tap water minerals will kill it.