Drosera burmanni is one of the most widespread sundews, with a range reaching from East Asia, through South East Asia to Australia. In Sydney, the plants are limited to a few areas in Western Sydney.

Here in the drier plains, plant growth is subject to annual rainfall levels with plants failing to grow in years of drought. When the water table is sufficiently high to wet the soils, the plants often grow en-mass and put on a magnificent display.

The plants in Sydney display a wide variety of colour ranging from pale green to red. Colour seems to be associated with environmental factors such as shading as well as how much prey the plant is able to capture.

These populations of D. burmanni are seriously threatened by habitat destruction and climate change. Whilst nature reserves do protect limited areas of habitat, the ever increase urbanisation of the Sydney basin make their preservation an uncertainty. As the species is so reliant on annual rainfall, it is unknown how climate change could affect their growth in the future.