Fascinating Facts about..
Rounded-leaved Sundew
Scientific name: Drosera rotundiflia
The sundew is a plant that feeds on insects, an insectivore.
It grows in raised and blanket bogs.
They flower in July and August.
The leaves are covered in hairs, which secrete a sticky liquid. This glue traps any small insects landing on the leaves. Over time the leaf closes in on its catch and releases chemicals which digests the fleshy parts of the insect and this is absorbed by the plant.
Several days later the leaf uncurls and the husk of the insect is discarded. The trap is reset!
This effective trapping technique gives the plant most of its food so it is able to grow in very poor acid soils where other plants find it hard to grow.
One sundew plant can catch as many as 2000 insects in one summer.
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