It is a temperate species with a circumboreal range,[2] although it does occur as far south as Japan, southern Europe, and the island of Kauai in Hawaii, where it grows as a tropical sundew.

[5] Drosera anglica is a perennial herb which forms an upright, stemless rosette of generally linear-spatulate leaves.

As is typical for sundews, the laminae are densely covered with stalked reddish colored mucilaginous glands, each tipped with a clear droplet of a viscous fluid used for trapping insects.

These consist of a knot of tightly curled leaves at ground level, which unfurl in spring at the end of the dormancy period.

Like all sundews, D. anglica uses stalked mucilaginous glands called tentacles which cover its laminae to attract, trap, and digest small arthropods, usually insects.

[9] These are attracted by a sugary scent exuded by the glands, and upon alighting on the plant adhere to the sticky drops of mucilage.

In a few areas, however, it is found farther south, particularly in Japan, southern Europe, the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, and California.

The natural hybrid D. rotundifolia × D. linearis (conventionally but incorrectly referred to as Drosera ×anglica), is also sterile but is morphologically similar to the modern D.

[5] Errors in meiosis during ovule and pollen production, however, can result in a chromosome doubling which can allow for viable seed to be produced.

Woods noted that this appeared to be an ongoing process with D. anglica speciating from D. rotundifolia × D. linearis through amphidiploidy in multiple locations.

[12] The question remains as to why D. anglica is so widespread, whereas the range of D. linearis is limited to the Great Lakes region of North America.

This confusion was fueled by the resurfacing of an older name, D. longifolia (described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753), which was regarded as being too ambiguous in description and had been applied to specimens of both D. anglica and D. intermedia.