sundew

/sun"dooh', -dyooh'/, n.

any of several small, carnivorous bog plants of the genus Drosera, having sticky hairs that trap insects. Also called dew plant, rosa solis.

[1570-80; < D sondauw (cf. G Sonnentau), trans. of L ros solis dew of the sun]

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Any of about 100 species of annual and perennial flowering carnivorous plants in four genera, notably Drosera, that make up the family Droseraceae (sundew family).

Sundews are found throughout tropical and temperate regions. Their leaves are usually in a basal rosette. Both leaf surfaces are generally covered with sticky, gland-tipped hairs and sensitive tentacles that trap insects. After the trapped prey has been digested by enzymes secreted by the tentacles, the leaf reopens, resetting the trap. The best-known sundew is the Venus's-flytrap. See also pitcher plant.

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▪ plant

      any plant of the genus Drosera, family Droseraceae, which contains about 100 annual and perennial species of flowering plants notable for their ability to trap insects. They are widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions.

 Drosera species, distributed worldwide but most abundantly in Australia, occur for the most part in wet, boggy places with a sandy acid soil; they are predominantly perennials. The small, nodding, five-petaled white or pinkish flowers are borne on one side of a curving stem, 10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 inches) tall, which rises from a rosette of usually basal leaves. The roundish, often reddish-stalked basal leaves, less than 2.5 cm (1 inch) in diameter, are covered with gland-tipped hairs that exude a sticky substance attractive to insects. Insects are captured by flexible stalked glands on the upper surface of the leaf, and eventually become engulfed by a web of sticky glands (see photograph—>). After the trapped prey has been digested by enzymes secreted by the tentacles, the leaf reopens, resetting the trap.

      The most common North American and West European sundew, D. rotundifolia, has small white or pinkish flowers 1.25 cm (0.5 inch) across or less. The round, flat leaf with purplish hairs narrows abruptly to a long fuzzy stalk. The fruit is spindle shaped.

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