It is typically found growing in silica sands surrounded by white quartz gravel, which is the origin of the specific epithet quartzicola.

[1] Of the Drosera found in Brazil, D. quartzicola is the rarest, consisting of only four known populations of about 300 individual plants as of its description in 2011.

These populations are at an elevation of 1,100–1,350 m (3,610–4,430 ft) and are either at the edge of the Serra do Cipó National Park or outside the boundary of the protected area.

Because of these factors, the authors proposed listing this new species as critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Rivadavia and Gonella made the rediscovery of the new taxon in 1996 but did not formally publish their findings until 2011 in the journal Phytotaxa.