FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Sundews are unmistakable, with their "dewdrop" covered round leaves.
Description: Small, low-growing carnivorous plant that traps insects in drops of sticky secretions on hairy leaves.
Leaves: Entire leaf margins with upper surfaces and margins of leaves covered with tentacle-like hairs that secrete drops of a sticky substance to trap insects.
Flowers/Fruit: White or pink flowers are one-sided racemes on stalks rising above leaves; individual 5-petaled flowers opening one at a time. Fruits are capsules with tiny seeds. Bloom April through September, fruiting soon after.
Habit and Range: Drosera capillaris (pink sundew), D. intermedia (spoonleaf sundew), and D. brevifolia (dwarf sundew) are common in the Coastal Plain, in wet sandy places, pine wetlands, and pond edges; D. rotundifolia (roundleaf sundew) is more rare and found in mountain bogs, fens, and seeps.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Five species occur in North Carolina: Drosera brevifolia (dwarf sundew), D. capillaris (pink sundew), D. filiformis (threadleaf sundew), D. intermedia (spoonleaf sundew), and D. rotundifolia (roundleaf sundew) .
