Or more specifically Drosera rotundiflora, the common sundew, round-leaved sundew or archaically, youthwort. It's an interesting little plant -- for a start, it's carnivorous. Sundews live in bogs, marshes and fens which are all nutrient poor areas. The sundew's workaround for this is to snack on insects which are attracted to the plant because of two things: Colour and mucilage.
The bright red colour attracts the insects. The mucilage (sugary plant goo, blobs of which you can see on some of the tentacle parts of the leaves above) covers the leaves of the plant; whilst initially the mucilage seems like ideal food for insects, it's worth noting that this plant goo stretches up to one million times it's initial size. Within 15 minutes of an insect contacting this goo, it dies, either of exhaustion or asphyxiation as the plant goo covers the insect's body. The plant then secretes digestive enzymes and then absorbs the digested insect goo through its leaves, extracting the nitrates and other nutrients lacking in the soil. I'm not sure I'd care to go to dinner with a sundew...
Sundews tend to be fairly obvious as they're a red leaved plant with tentacle bits on a bog (the one above is growing on Sphagnum). There are a few varieties about though. In the UK, we have three -- round-leaved sundew, oblong-leaved sundew and the great sundew. Round-leaved sundew has the most widespread range, covering bogs, fens and marshes almost throughout the UK. Oblong-leaved sundew is less common, occuring in locations that are not necessarily on the coast, but nearer the coastline. The great sundew occurs mostly in Scotland, parts of the northwest, parts of west wales and a few populations in Norfolk.
Extracts of this plant are used today as an anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic in medications. In the past, it was taken in a tea and used for dry coughs, asthma, tuberculosis and bronchitis. The Scots also used to make a purple dye from the roots of this plant as well as making a type of liquer using the leaves of all three British sundews. That recipe is from the 14th century -- and as much as I have an interest in history, I'm really not too sure about sundew liqueur! If you're interested, a really long blog post about liqueurs of this type can be found at http://www.historicfood.com/rosolio.htm.
The bright red colour attracts the insects. The mucilage (sugary plant goo, blobs of which you can see on some of the tentacle parts of the leaves above) covers the leaves of the plant; whilst initially the mucilage seems like ideal food for insects, it's worth noting that this plant goo stretches up to one million times it's initial size. Within 15 minutes of an insect contacting this goo, it dies, either of exhaustion or asphyxiation as the plant goo covers the insect's body. The plant then secretes digestive enzymes and then absorbs the digested insect goo through its leaves, extracting the nitrates and other nutrients lacking in the soil. I'm not sure I'd care to go to dinner with a sundew...
Sundews tend to be fairly obvious as they're a red leaved plant with tentacle bits on a bog (the one above is growing on Sphagnum). There are a few varieties about though. In the UK, we have three -- round-leaved sundew, oblong-leaved sundew and the great sundew. Round-leaved sundew has the most widespread range, covering bogs, fens and marshes almost throughout the UK. Oblong-leaved sundew is less common, occuring in locations that are not necessarily on the coast, but nearer the coastline. The great sundew occurs mostly in Scotland, parts of the northwest, parts of west wales and a few populations in Norfolk.
Extracts of this plant are used today as an anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic in medications. In the past, it was taken in a tea and used for dry coughs, asthma, tuberculosis and bronchitis. The Scots also used to make a purple dye from the roots of this plant as well as making a type of liquer using the leaves of all three British sundews. That recipe is from the 14th century -- and as much as I have an interest in history, I'm really not too sure about sundew liqueur! If you're interested, a really long blog post about liqueurs of this type can be found at http://www.historicfood.com/rosolio.htm.
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