Photo(s) of the Week

This week, let's check out the sundew, or drosera, plant.

The sundew plant is a carnivorous plant that grows in poor soils. It uses a sweet-smelling goo called mucilage to attract and then ensnare insects. Some species exhibit rapid plant movement, or thigmonasty, as the tentacles are triggered by struggling prey and then will contract and twist around the insect, thus trapping it further.

Once the creatures are held in the plant's clutches, they are eventually smothered to death as the mucilage clogs their spiracles (breathing holes). The plant then secretes digestive enzymes, and separate glands absorb the resulting insect soup. This nutrition allows the plants to thrive in environments with poor soil conditions.

Sundew are sometimes kept as ornamental plants, but they can be fussy about the conditions they are kept in. As "meat-eating" plants, they have evolved many of the same characteristics as the Venus' flytrap, the pitcher plant, the butterwort and the waterwheel plant.

More shots of various sundew species: