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A rare and spectacular endemic plant to South Africa, Roridula dentata superficially resembles sundews of the genus Drosera. Roridula dentata and R gorgonias are the two extant species of this carnivorous plant genus found only in South Africa. Roridula spp have several somewhat unique features that separates them from the similar appearing sundews (Drosera spp.).
Roridula, despite the sticky stalked glands similar to the sundews, produces no digestive enzymes - the sticky leaves only serve to trap insects. Rather than digesting these captured insects with enzymes, Roridula spp. host several species of bugs of the genus Pameridea forming a symbiotic relationship in which the bugs feed on trapped insects and excrete waste on the plant leaves that in turn are absorbed as nutrients for the plant. Therefore, rather than truly carnivorous, Roridula would be considered a protocarnivorous plant in that the nutrient assimilation results from the work of a symbiotic insect. My next post will address the insect life on these plants.
The second and perhaps most fascinating aspect of Roridula spp. is the fact that the genus is believed to be related to the most ancient remains of a carnivorous plant in the fossil record - amber encapulated leaves very similar to modern Roridula found in amber mines at Kaliningrad, Russia. These amber specimens are dated to between 35-50 million years old. The plants which we see today may have changed very little since the time of the last dinosaurs and the beginning of the age of mammals.
All the plants on the Keen of Hamar fellfield grow widely spaced out and low to the ground, sheltering from wind and weather between rocks and pebbes.. Common Butterwort is an insectivorous plant whose bright yellow-green leaves secrete a sticky fluid that attracts insects; once trapped, the leaves slowly curl around their prey and digest it.
Dwarf Sundew along Pitcher Plant Trail, Big Thicket National Preserve, TX, 100414. Drosera annua. AKA Drosera brevifolia. Core eudicots: Caryophyllales: Droseraceae
Drosera cistiflora is a widespread highly variable and polymorphic species of sundew from the western Cape region of South Africa. there is tremendous variation in flower size and color as well as stem and leaf morphology. For this region, there are current research efforts to identify and reclassify this 'species' into multiple classifications. The late afternoon light provided a spectacular setting for these images.