The Sundew a Carnivorous

Sundew plants seem pretty harmless you look at them. You would see those droplets of sticky liquid sparkling in the sunlight making it look like there’s just plain old water on the leaves but it’s not water at all. Those droplets are glue, basically sticky like glue and strong enough to trap a fly, if the fly lands thinking it has found something that tastes sweet to eat.

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I read about a Sundew that was growing in a bog and I just couldn’t imagine what it looked like because it was just a picture I was looking at and the plant didn’t look like anything special. Then I found out that after the insect gets caught, the leaf starts to curl around the insect and by curling more of those sticky hairs come in contact with the bug. This can take several hours, not minutes for the leaf to start to curl up after the insect gets trapped.

What I think is weird is how some Sundews grow in swamps or bogs, where the soil is terrible with no nutrients. So, the Sundew has evolved over time to eat insects instead. You can find many different varieties around the world. Some have a very small size and live in cold climates while others can have a very large bushy appearance and live in Australia.

The movement is what impresses me about the Sundews, or you could say the patience that they have when the insect starts to struggle, which causes movement of the leaf, but not fast. The Sundew moves very slowly and very carefully to keep from damaging the insect and by the time the Sundew is done moving, the insect is already trapped.

I can’t even tell if it is clever of the Sundew or just an unfortunate circumstance for the insect. Sundews do what they have to do to survive in an ecosystem with poor soil nutrients.

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