Portrait Of A Carnivore

Day 203: Some wit once remarked that while we accept that bugs eat plants, it seems almost a violation of natural order for a plant to eat bugs. Drosera rotundifolia (Round-Leaved Sundew) has the practice down to a fine science. Each of the tiny hairs on its thumbnail-sized leaves is tipped with a gland which exudes a sticky, sugary fluid. The fluid serves to attract and trap insects, the soft parts of which are then digested by proteolytic enzymes and reduced to nutrients which the plant can utilize.

Since discovering Sundews on Lake St. Clair several years ago, each time I go kayaking on the lake, my first priority is to check on their status. One month ago, they were just beginning to emerge from hibernation. During their winter rest, new leaves can be observed only as tightly curled buds in a rosette. As temperatures warm in the spring, the leaves unfurl and begin to grow, to be followed by significantly taller scapes (flower-bearing stalks) in early summer (mid-July at the St. Clair location). The inflorescence may consist of up to 15 white five-petalled flowers. The plant propagates both by seed and vegetatively, but true to its name, the species is very intolerant of shady conditions. The colonies on a free-floating "island" of old dock timbers which drifted into a sheltered cove have declined radically since I first saw them. However, those growing on two logs anchored in full-day sun are thriving.