ERIKA ALIN

Round-leaved sundews favor the mossy edges of rock pools, where standing waters keep their roots moist all summer. Fringing their lime-green leaves are glistening hairlike red stalks with sticky red drops that trap gnats and other small insects. The insects are digested by fluids secreted by similar drops on the leaves’ upper faces.1 While the leaves only measure one quarter to one half of an inch, their splash of red makes sundews easier to spot in the moss. 

 

True to its name, the sundew opens its flowers only for a few hours in direct sunlight. However, it can also spread by growing root suckers and new buds and producing seed from flowers that self-pollinate and never actually open.2 A study in understatement, each open flower measures under a quarter of an inch. Accented by pale green sepals and a pale green ovary, its white petals offer a fleeting dash of light around the dark edges of pools.