![]() ![]() ![]() Other species may die back to a tuberous root called a corm when it is too cold or too dry and then spring forth again when growing conditions are favorable again in the warm and/or wet season. The healthier and more well “fed” the Sundew, the more flowers and seeds are produced.Īside from hybridized and tropical Sundews, the plants typically enter a dormant phase during the colder months of the year (November-February), at which time they form a hibernaculum, a dense cluster of buds made to aid them in toughing out the winter. Sundews flower when they have gathered sufficient nutrients to produce viable flowers and then seeds. Like many other plants, those in the genus Drosera produce flowers (Figure 3). An insect is digested by a Thread-Leaf Sundew. When an insect lands on the plant the leaves immediately begin to curl around it, covering it in sticky digestive mucus, which will suffocate and eventually digest the insect into nutritious slurry which is then absorbed through the surface of the leaf.įigure 3. That glistening dew-like substance on the leaves is actually a bead of sticky mucus packed with enzymes to digest unwary bugs lured in by the sweet smells the Sundew emits. Sundews are insectivorous, meaning they feed on insects (Figure 2). ![]() If they were to investigate further so far as touching one of the glistening hairs they may find the plant springs to life! This interesting adaptation is how the Sundews fill the nutritional gap left by their environment. If one was to examine any Sundew they would find that its leaves are covered in numerous tiny hair-like structures (Figure 1) each glistening with a drop of moisture that could easily be mistaken for dew clinging to the plant (Hence one reason for the name!). However, the Sundews have developed a strategy to get the nutrients they need from a different source… The members of Drosera make their homes in moist, acidic, and nutrient deficient soil. Sundews are for the most part swamp and bog plants that have managed to work their way into a niche in their environments that not many other plants have been able to inhabit. A common flower form seen among the members There are five species of Sundew found here in Florida: The Pink Sundew ( Drosera capillaris), the threatened Spoon-Leaved or Water Sundew ( Drosera intermedia), the Dwarf Sundew ( Drosera brevifolia), the Thread-Leaved Sundew ( Drosera filiformis), and Tracy’s Sundew ( Drosera tracyi).įigure 2. The Sundews belong to larger family group Droseraceae which encompasses the rest of the carnivorous/insectivorous plants. ![]() Student author: Keenan Carpenter.Īllow me to introduce you to an odd little group of plants of the genus Drosera, otherwise known as the Sundews. This post is one of a series from Botany professor Nisse Goldberg's students at Jacksonville University. The threatened Water Sundew (Drosera intermedia). ![]()
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