Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Drosera rotundifolia L.
- Family: Sundew (Droseraceae)
- Flowering: June-August
- Field Marks: The distinguishing features of the sundew are the broad, often nearly spherical leaves, white petals, and fusiform seeds.
- Habitat: Bogs, wet woods.
- Habit: Perennial herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Upright, unbranched, smooth, up to 1 foot tall, bearing only flowers.
- Leaves: All basal, usually spherical, up to 1/4 inch long, covered with gland-tipped hairs, with a slender, hairy stalk.
- Flowers: 2-25 in a 1-sided raceme at the tip of the leafless stem, each flower white (rarely pink), up to 1/3 inch across.
- Sepals: Usually 5, green, united at the base.
- Petals: 5, white (rarely pink), free from each other, 1/6-1/4 inch long.
- Stamens: 5.
- Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3.
- Fruits: Capsules containing several fusiform, shiny brown seeds with a loose seed coat prolonged at each end.
- Notes: This species, like all other sundews, collects small insects in its gland-tipped hairs and utilizes nutrients attained from the insect's body.
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