Sundew (Drosera) belongs to the genus of carnivorous plants of the sundew family (Droseraceae). Its spread across the planet is surprising. It is found in all parts of the world except Antarctica. Most of the Sundews are in Australia and New Zealand. It owes its vitality to its special structure and method of obtaining food. The main business of life for an insectivorous predator is hunting. There are about 200 species of this plant. The Latin name “Drosera” was given to the plant by Carl Linnaeus, which translated into Russian means “Dew”. People call Sundew in all sorts of different ways: flycatcher, charming killer, and solar dew. In this article we will talk about the most popular types and varieties of Sundew.
Botanical description
Sundew belongs to the family of the same name.
The name of the genus contains the Greek word “droseros”, which means “covered with dew” , since drops of sticky secretion can be seen on the glandular hairs of the flower, reminiscent of morning dew sparkling in the sun.
The sundew family includes more than 200 species of plants native to South America, New Zealand, Australia, and South America. Several species of sundews are also found in the northern hemisphere.
Sundews living in the tropics are much larger in size than their northern neighbors. For example, the stem of the giant Australian sundew reaches 1 m in length. And the royal sundew, which grows in South Africa, easily digests toads and snails.
Drosera is a perennial insectivorous herbaceous plant, most often without a stem , but with a creeping rhizome. The root system is well developed, but weak. It is only necessary to absorb water and keep the plant on the soil surface.
Rosette basal leaves are covered with reddish hairs with sticky tips.
By leaf color:
- reddish;
- yellow;
- light green;
- green.
By form:
- small and round;
- long, narrow or wide.
The leaves lie on the ground or sit on petioles, the length of which is 2-15 cm.
On the upper part of the leaf blade there are 25 cilia , with the longest located at the edge.
Sundew blooms in late spring - early summer (2-3 months). The flowers are inconspicuous, small (usually 1.5 cm, but there are species with flowers 4-5 cm in diameter), collected in a brush or panicle.
They are located on long peduncles to prevent pollinating insects from becoming trapped. In most species, flowers open only in the sun.
Fruits in the form of a box with a large number of small seeds appear in August. When the seeds are fully ripe, the fruit opens into 3 parts, they scatter on the soil and germinate successfully a year later.
Sundew plant: a mini-format predator from peat bogs
The fashion for exoticism has made carnivorous plants quite popular. The sundew gives the impression of a plant that is not just extravagant, but very beautiful. Her “predation” is not so striking.
Sundew is often called a sticky plant or a trap plant and is promoted as a crop that can rid your home of insects. But the sundew's ability to fight annoying mosquitoes and flies is exaggerated. And it would be a big mistake to use it instead of repellent devices, nets and adhesive tapes. Sundew should become the star of the collection, and not an analogue of fumigators.
Sundews represent the family of the same name - Sundewaceae. They grow in peat bogs of all continents and are often adjacent to shrubs of the heather family.
The fact that sundews are predators does not mean that the plant is completely dependent on animal food. The combination of the usual (and main) method of obtaining nutrients, thanks to photosynthesis, and the digestion of animal food in sundews is unique.
This carnivorous plant is considered more aesthetically pleasing than its competitors. After all, the sundew not only “feeds” quite slowly, but also does not emit unpleasant odors.
Sundew attracts insects with the shine of its drops, which shimmer in the sun. It feeds on small insects - mosquitoes, ants and small flies that stick to the hairs. The mechanism of leaf folding is triggered by the movements of the insect, which, when trying to escape, sticks more and more to the hairs.
The hairs react instantly, starting to bend over the insect and triggering the leaf folding mechanism. The sundew is able to hold a fly for half an hour without curling the leaves, but in most species the edges of the leaves curl up in a few minutes.
Inside the leaf rolled into a tube, the “prey” is digested for two weeks, thanks to enzymes in the mucus, after which the leaf straightens out again. Nutrients formed during digestion are absorbed by leaf cells, and the chitinous skeleton remains on the surface. Transparent drops and beautiful leaves return to their original appearance quite quickly, a few days after the leaf opens.
The sundew is able to hold a fly for half an hour without folding the leaves.
Where does it grow?
The sundew's habitat is peat bogs of various continents, often growing adjacent to shrubs of the heather family.
In the subtropics, the plant grows all year round , while in cooler conditions the flower enters a dormant period and overwinters under the cover of snow. To survive severe drought, members of the family growing on the Australian continent can see underground thickening of roots in the form of a tuber, which helps to cope with unfavorable natural conditions.
Sundew plant: the original carnivorous houseplant
Among predator plants, the sundew rightly claims to be the brightest and most expressive beauty. This plant attracts, first of all, its unusual textures and play of colors. But the feeding mechanism of this swamp and quite hardy miracle is so exotic that it is very easy to forget about sundews as plants, primarily ornamental ones. Sundews require the creation of special conditions of detention; they are quite demanding in terms of humidity, but they are easier than many rarer indoor predators to grow in ordinary living quarters. And caring for them cannot be called very difficult.
Sundew plant: the original indoor predator.
How and what does sundew eat?
The fact that a plant is a predator does not mean that it depends only on receiving live food. After all, if there are no insects, the flower feeds like an ordinary plant.
To catch prey, the plant first attracts the insect with the shine of a dew-like droplet, which is actually a sticky digestive enzyme. When the victim touches the leaf, it sticks.
After 10-20 minutes, the eyelash to which the victim is stuck bends towards the center of the leaf. Neighboring cilia also bend, causing the insect to suffocate. At the end of everything, the edge of the sheet plate is bent and the trap slams shut. This plant reaction occurs only to protein foods , while the flower does not react to other substances.
During the digestion of food, the cilia secrete special enzymes that are similar to pepsin (animal stomach juice). With their help, protein is broken down, allowing the plant to eat lunch. When the process is completed, the leaf opens and only the remains of the victim (chitinous shell) can be seen on it. After this, the cilia straighten, become covered with a sticky secretion resembling dew, and again lure a new victim. Sometimes the sundew takes several days to digest its food.
Favorite delicacy of carnivorous plants?
HamstersFlies
How does insect hunting work?
Special glands produce droplets that attract small insects. There are sticky hairs all over the surface. Having sat on a flower, the victim sticks, and the leaves, sensing it, curl up, closing the caught victim inside.
Continue the re-etching process for at least a week, then the petals open again, releasing killer dew.
Sundew in its natural environment prefers swampy areas where the soil is poor in nitrogen; by catching and poisoning the insect, the plant receives the necessary substances, including the missing nitrogen. The hunting process, unlike similar species, is rare, but very exciting.
Varieties and photos
There is a wide variety of varieties of this exotic predator that grow successfully in a variety of conditions. Below are photos, names and descriptions of sundew varieties suitable for propagation and care at home:
Round-leaved
This is the most common winter-hardy sundew species, which is found in peat bogs in the temperate climate zone of Russia, Asia, America and Europe. When growing a wild specimen in potted form, the plant must be supplemented with the soil in which it grew.
The round-leaved sundew has rounded basal leaves on which there are red cilia that secrete sticky mucus.
The length of the flower stem reaches 20 cm.
The plant blooms in mid-summer, blooming small white flowers. The fruits ripen at the end of summer and are a single-locular capsule. Round-leaved sundew reproduces by seeds, which are collected and sown in greenhouses, laid on the surface of moist peat soil.
To survive the cold season, the plant forms special wintering buds in advance, which are hidden in sphagnum moss. When spring comes, the sun warms up and the snow begins to melt, annual shoots appear from the buds. The photo below shows Sundew Roundifolia:
Cape
This is the most beautiful and unpretentious species of predator, which is most often grown at home. Cape sundew grows all year round, easily adapting to any living conditions.
This plant reaches a height of only 12 cm and is characterized by beautiful, elongated lanceolate leaves of a light green or reddish hue. The leaves sit in a dense rosette and on each of them there are red tentacles with a sticky secretion. The Cape sundew takes several days to digest its food. The flower stalks reach 20 cm in height and are crowned with inflorescences of bright pink flowers. You can see what the Cape Rosyanka variety looks like in the photo below:
English
This type of sundew is common in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Hawaiian Islands, choosing damp, sandy places and sphagnum bogs.
The English sundew reaches a height of 7-25 cm, the length of thin lanceolate leaves, located on long petioles and directed upward, reaches 10 cm. The plant blooms in mid-summer, producing white flowers. The fruit is a single-locular capsule containing grayish-brown seeds. In the photo below is the English Rosyanka variety:
Cape sundew
This species is practically the only one adapted to home conditions. The homeland is considered to be the southern part of America.
The peculiarity of the Cape sundew is its small size, easy care and a large number of seeds, thanks to which the species reproduces quickly, often even independently. Small narrow leaves up to 4 cm long and 0.5 cm wide.
The leaves are collected in a basal rosette with red fibers. Upon contact, they release a sticky paralytic substance. As soon as the insect sticks, the edges of the leaf roll up, enclosing the victim, poisoning it for several days.
It has been observed that the leaf reacts to organic matter and the ingress of foreign objects does not provoke curling.
Care
Among all carnivorous plants, sundew is best suited for growing at home, since this plant is easier to care for for beginners. Despite the fact that the flower is demanding on lighting and temperature, at home it is possible to create the most suitable conditions for it. To do this, it is best to plant English sundews in glass vessels or special semi-automatic aquariums. Here the plant will be able to enjoy the high humidity it needs and will not suffer from changing conditions.
Lighting
Bright lighting is the most important when growing sundews, which cannot live even with slight shading. But at the same time, plants cannot tolerate direct sunlight , so they need to be placed on bright, sunny windowsills with diffused lighting. Artificial lighting alone will not be enough for them, but it is welcome as additional lighting.
To compensate for the lack of light in winter, sundews should be placed on southern windows at this time of year, and during active growth - on a western or eastern window.
In winter, the duration of illumination should not be less than 8 hours, and in the spring-summer period - 14 hours.
If the sundew does not have enough light or the lighting is unstable, the plant will quickly tell about it. First signs:
- loss of color;
- change in leaf texture to soft and limp.
The leaves should not be allowed to dry out; the sooner the sundew’s lighting is normalized, the better.
Temperature
Almost all types of indoor sundews feel good at a temperature of 18-23°C. When purchasing a plant, you need to ask in advance what temperature conditions the flower is used to and adhere to these recommendations.
Sundews cannot be grown at the same temperature all year round. During the rest period, it must be reduced to 8-13°C, and an increase of more than 14°C is unacceptable.
The exceptions are the Alice and Cape sundews, which can tolerate a period of rest in the warmth if the lighting regime does not differ from summer. The minimum temperature for heat-loving plants is 7°C, and for cold-resistant plants – 2°C, but it is still better not to allow temperatures to drop below 8°C.
In summer, the plant can be taken out into the fresh air , avoiding drafts and protecting from direct sunlight.
Humidity and watering
Sundews are moisture-loving and cannot tolerate even short droughts. Therefore, it is necessary that the moss and soil contain a sufficient amount of moisture without drying out even in the middle part of the substrate.
It is best to water the flower from below, pouring water into trays, which is drained after some time. Each watering is combined with spraying the soil surface to prevent the top layer of the substrate from drying out.
In the spring-summer period, you need to water the plant once every 3 days, while in winter it is enough to do it once a week, preventing the substrate from drying out.
In regions with high temperature and humidity, sundew can also be grown outdoors .
However, after rain it is necessary to drain excess water from the pot so that the roots do not rot. Sundew feels good only in acidic soil, poor in minerals. To achieve this, you need to use distilled or rain water for irrigation. If you use tap water, you need to draw it in advance and leave it for 1-2 days so that the chlorine settles.
Top dressing
Classic feeding of sundews, like other carnivorous plants, is not carried out. Additional food for this flower are insects, which can be purchased at pet stores. In summer, plants can be exposed to fresh air, where they will independently attract insects (flies, midges, ants).
If there are no insects in the room, then the standard feeding is 2-3 flies per plant , which is enough to give once a week. In winter you can rarely feed. 1 time per month. During this period, the plant stops growing, but does not die.
The flower should not be fed with insects that are too large. The victim can escape, fly away, and the sheet will remain damaged.
Transfer
The sundew is replanted as needed, when the previous container becomes too small for the plant.
Moreover, it is best to choose the classic timing of transplantation (February, March), until the flower “wakes up”. To grow sundews, use wide, flat and low containers with drainage holes, no more than 8 cm in height.
Priming
Different types of soil can be used to grow sundews, but the most popular is peat moss (crushed sphagnum moss) . Before use, it must be washed to avoid causing mold on the plants.
You can also use the following types of soil:
- perlite – a light-colored substrate is used to retain water and allow roots to grow better (you can mix equal parts of peat and perlite);
- coconut fiber - a peat substitute obtained from the husks of coconut shells (before use, you must thoroughly rinse them to remove salts);
- aquatic plant soil - consists of small pieces of ceramic chips that absorb moisture well and act like perlite.
Any soil and material that will be used should always be washed to get rid of salts and minerals that could harm the plant.
Use of Sundew for medicinal and economic purposes
Sundew herb, collected during its flowering, is used for coughs, bronchitis, including whooping cough. It has been proven that it contains a substance such as plumbagon - an antibiotic that helps in the fight against microbes and pathogenic fungi - streptococci and staphylococci. It is used by homeopaths to prepare nutritional supplements. Externally, sundew juice is used to destroy warts and old calluses. For this purpose, young, freshly picked leaves are used. The inner part of the leaf, where the glandular hairs are located, is used to wipe warts or calluses. After several procedures they disappear. And decoctions of dry sundew leaves are used as diuretics and diaphoretics, for fevers, and for eye diseases. We draw your attention to the fact that not fresh leaves are used for decoctions, but dry raw materials. It is best to harvest it in the summer, during the flowering period, although it is possible during the entire growing season, as long as the Sundew is above the soil surface. It is better to dry using dryers at a temperature of 40 degrees. But it is also possible in a well-ventilated area. Store in cloth bags for no more than two years.
Infusions are recommended to be drunk for asthma, atherosclerosis, diarrhea, dropsy, dysentery, and also for headaches. They are prepared like this: 1 tsp. dry sundew herb is poured with 1 cup of boiling water. Leave for one hour, strain and squeeze out the herb. The resulting solution is consumed after meals 3–4 times a day, 1 tbsp. spoon. It is important not to exceed the indicated doses so as not to cause vomiting or digestive system upset.
Pharmacies sell ready-made alcoholic tinctures of Rosyanka for the treatment of diseases of the upper respiratory tract. You can prepare an alcohol tincture yourself in a ratio of 1:10. Take 10 g of dried sundew herb and 100 ml of 40% alcohol or vodka. Leave in a dark place at room temperature for 10 days. Strain. After which it is used as a pharmaceutical drug. Children are given 10 drops diluted with water, 3-4 times a day. Adults – 15 drops in a glass of water 4 – 5 times a day.
But it is important to know that all parts of the plant are poisonous. Self-medication is dangerous. Any failure to comply with the dosage risks poisoning. Therefore, before treating diseases with any parts of Sundew, consult a specialist.
In the North, Rosyanka is used for steaming milk storage containers. Over time, milk does not store well in jars and begins to sour quickly. Then the sundew with a small amount of water is placed in a jug. The jug is placed in a Russian oven and steamed for some time. The enzymes that are found in the leaves of Sundew dissolve all organic substances remaining after the milk has soured and penetrated deep into the clay pores of the jar. After steaming with Rosyanka, milk in such a jug is again stored for a long time and does not sour.
In Italy, Rosyanka is used in the preparation of Rosolio liqueur.
Reproduction
Sundew is propagated in several ways:
Cuttings
A leaf is cut from the mother plant and kept in moist sphagnum moss in a greenhouse. Rooting and the appearance of young sprouts wait 2 months, after which the flower is transplanted into a pot. The cuttings can also be rooted in a container of water.
How to grow from seeds?
The collected seeds are sprinkled on the surface of a mixture of peat and sand, then sprayed. Cover with glass or film and keep for 3-5 weeks in bright light and temperature +25°C . They dive when four leaves appear.
Dividing the bush
The rosette extending to the side is separated from the mother liquor and planted in a separate container.
Wintering period
During the cold season, wintering buds . As they grow, they go deeper into the forest moss. If you come to a swampy area where sundew grows after frost, it will be impossible to see this plant. The sundew will be completely hidden under forest moss .
Thanks to this type of growth, the moss protects the flower from frost, and the sundew successfully survives the cold.
In the spring, when the temperature becomes stable and the first sun appears, the first shoots grow from the wintering buds of this representative of the flora.
Diseases and pests
Sundew is practically not affected by pests, only spider mites and aphids. For spider mites, Actellik is used. When an aphid attacks a plant, the flower stops growing and its leaves and stems become deformed.
Diseases on sundew occur only with improper care:
- Gray rot - first remove all affected areas, and then the plant is treated with fungicides.
- Root rot - the stem and leaves turn black, plant growth slows down - caused by low temperatures and waterlogging of the soil. To save a flower, its rotten roots are cut off, and the plant is transplanted into a disinfected container with new soil.
- There is no sticky secretion on the leaves - it occurs when the soil is unsuitable and the moisture level is low. This can be corrected by replacing the soil and increasing the humidity.
How to understand that a plant is uncomfortable
Look at the sundew leaves. If there are no droplets or they are barely noticeable, the plant suffers.
1 / 0
This is what a leaf looks like with virtually no droplets
2 / 0
And this is a healthy sundew leaf
The most common reason is lack of moisture. Make sure the soil does not dry out.
Another possible option is not enough light. Make sure that the place for the predator is chosen correctly; it is not in the shade or too far from windows.
Also, sundew leaves may remain without droplets in very hot weather. In this case, all you have to do is wait.
Find out the secrets
