Drosera capensis, the Cape sundew, is a perennial rosette-forming carnivorous herb in the flowering plant family Droseraceae. It is native to the Cape region of South Africa, where it grows in permanently wet, nutrient-poor habitats. Leaves are covered in stalked glands that secrete sticky mucilage. These attract, trap, and digest arthropod prey, obtaining nutrients that supplement intake from the substrate in which the plant grows. The plant is an autotroph that produces its own food in the green leaves by photosynthesis. The nutrients (like minerals N, P, Na, Ca etc) absorbed from insects are not plant food but essential miconutrients are used in the production of amino acids, necleotides which are required for growth.