Round Leaved Sundew
Mother Nature and Lady Luck conspired to lead me to an Adirondack surprise.
I was just over an hour into my trip to Long Island when I heard the Call of Nature so loud I could almost taste it. Making an emergency stop just south of Tupper Lake I located the men’s bush and relieved the pressure. Walking back to the truck I spotted a pink haze on a roadside rock cut and investigated.
Drosera rotundifolia
I won’t say this was a unique discovery but I didn’t expect to find a plant that prefers to live in a bog on a roadside rock cut.
Sundews prefer wet acidic conditions so these Sundews must have found the growing conditions they were looking for. They were thriving and growing densely on the rock where water was seeping out. Now all they have to do is wait for their main meal to arrive.
I love how Sundews turn the tables on bugs and make a meal of them. Too bad there aren’t any large enough to take care of my deer problem. I know, I know, they would be dangerous at that size but I’d be willing to pull the cats and kids off them if I had to.
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June 29th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
You have the most interesting plants in your area. The sundew and other carnivorous plants are really fascinating. Great photos.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I doubt whether those plants were fertilized by your “call of nature”…
June 30th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Awesome story(-: I love those little insect eating plants(-; I have a carnivorous plant but I am not sure what it is. It sits in the kitchen to catch all the flies…lol(-: J/K
June 30th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Noogie! How adorable. I have been lucky to visit several bogs (rare in my area and on private property) and so I’ve seen sundew, but, no, I would not have expected to find a boggy plant on the roadside, let alone on a rock, which s anything but moist and acidic… ????
June 30th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I have always been fascinated with carnivorous plants. I don’t know much about them, but the idea that they could exist is intriguing. I used to stare longingly in the back of comic books where they used to sell them. My grandpa had some one time, but they never caught any flies.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Hmm.. Something like “The Little Shop of Horrors”. We could start with moles, mice and voles, work our way up to rabbits and skunks, and finish off with the deer. On second thought I’ll stick to composting. Those are some seriously fantastic pictures of sundew in the sunshine!
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Awesome- Those little sundews have a habit of showing up in very odd places from time to time. A few years ago I stumbled into a patch of the spatulate leaved ones. Only time I’ve ever seen that one.