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Sundew
Climbing Sundew - Drosera
whittakeri
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Ss
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Sundews are small herbs with leaves that are covered by long hairs. Each hair is tipped with a small, droplet of clear, sticky liquid which could look very much like nectar to an insect. In fact the liquid is a
glue which will fasten the hairs to a small animal, anchoring it to the leaf. As the animal struggles to get free other hairs on the leaf slowly bend towards the movement
so that the animal becomes more strongly held.
Inside each droplet, at the tip of the hair, is a structure from which 'acids' are released. These will enter the body of the animal to make nutrient-rich liquids that can be taken up by the leaf. In a way the animal is being 'eaten' from the outside in.
The reason for this gruesome process is that sundews grow in soils which are very low in certain nutrients (particularly phosphorus and nitrogen). The sundews are simply using the animals that they catch to make up for the short supply in the soil.
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