Roridula dentatadewstick, vliebos, flycatcher bush, bug plant, fly bush
A fascinating plant that occurs in damp spots on the way to the lower tadpole pools on Riversong. It grows to about a metre high.
Although it looks like an insectivorous plant, it is not strictly speaking so. Instead, it seems to have an amazingly intricate relationship with an assassin bug that can move over the sticky leaves unharmed, unlike all other insects that are caught in the sticky mess and delivered up to the assassin bugs for supper. The plant then uses the faeces of the bugs to supplement its nutrient uptake. For more on Roridula dentata, click here.
Flowering time seems to be all through the year, although the books say September to October.
Roridula dentata is a Cape endemic that occurs at altitudes of 900 to 1200 m in the mountains of the Clanwilliam, Ceres and Tulbagh districts.
