page_title: Drosera
section_title: Habit
hierarchical_section_title: Drosera / Description / Habit
caption_attribution_description: Drosera derbyensis
context_page_description: Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow. Various species, which vary greatly in size and form, are native to every continent except Antarctica.
  Charles Darwin performed much of the early research into Drosera, engaging in a long series of experiments with Drosera rotundifolia which were the first to confirm carnivory in plants. In an 1860 letter, Darwin wrote, “…at the present moment, I care more about Drosera than the origin of all the species in the world.”
  Both the botanical name and the English common name refer to the glistening drops of mucilage at the tip of the glandular trichomes that resemble drops of morning dew. The Principia Botanica, published in 1787, states “Sun-dew derives its name from small drops of a liquor-like dew, hanging on its fringed leaves, and continuing in the hottest part of the day, exposed to the sun.”
context_section_description: The genus can be divided into several habits, or growth forms:
  Temperate sundews: These species form a tight cluster of unfurled leaves called a hibernaculum in a winter dormancy period (= Hemicryptophyte). All of the North American and European species belong to this group. Drosera arcturi from Australia (including Tasmania) and New Zealand is another temperate species that dies back to a horn-shaped hibernaculum.
  Subtropical sundews: These species maintain vegetative growth year-round under uniform or nearly uniform climatic conditions.
  Pygmy sundews: A group of roughly 40 Australian species, they are distinguished by miniature growth, the formation of gemmae for asexual reproduction, and dense formation of hairs in the crown center. These hairs serve to protect the plants from Australia's intense summer sun. Pygmy sundews form the subgenus Bryastrum.
  Tuberous sundews: These nearly 50 Australian species form an underground tuber to survive the extremely dry summers of their habitat, re-emerging in the autumn. These so-called tuberous sundews can be further divided into two groups, those that form rosettes and those that form climbing or scrambling stems. Tuberous sundews comprise the subgenus Ergaleium.
  Petiolaris complex: A group of tropical Australian species, they live in constantly warm but sometimes wet conditions. Several of the 14 species that comprise this group have developed special strategies to cope with the alternately drier conditions. Many species, for example, have petioles densely covered in trichomes, which maintain a sufficiently humid environment and serve as an increased condensation surface for morning dew. The Petiolaris complex comprises the subgenus Lasiocephala.
  Although they do not form a single strictly defined growth form, a number of species are often put together in a further group:
  Queensland sundews: A small group of three species (D. adelae, D. schizandra and D. prolifera), all are native to highly humid habitats in the dim understories of the Australian rainforest.
caption: D. derbyensis, from the petiolaris complex
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