Sundew: The Sticky Plant With A Killer Instinct

Covered in long, sticky tentacles,   the Sundew is a predatory plant that  looks like it’s from another planet.  Their cute leaves and bright red stalks, which  seem to capture and sweeten the morning dew,   are the perfect landing spot for an  insect. To some, it will be their last.  In sundew country, no one can hear you scream.  Hi, I’m Tasha the Amazon and  you’re watching Floralogic.   Sundews are the members of the genus drosera. There are about 200 species worldwide and they   live in every continent except Antarctica. They’re  mostly found in Africa and in Australia, the land   that constantly wants to put you 6 feet undah. Charles Darwin was fascinated by these plants   and wrote about them extensively. He said of them,  “I care more about drosera than the origin of all   other species in the world,” while trying to  understand their evolutionary history. He was   even the first person to report that on average  it takes drosera 15 minutes to kill its prey.  Like most other carnivorous plants,  their meat-eating is an adaptation   for life in nutrient-poor soils. Their prey is consumed not for energy   but for their proteins, which get broken down  into nitrogen and used to fertilize the plant.   Their roots are great at absorbing water, but  pretty much useless at sucking in nutrients.   Some species don’t even have the enzymes  necessary to extract nitrates from the soil.  Since there are so many species  their morphology varies a lot.  Most species have flat leaves. Pink sundews,   which are abundant throughout Florida  are one the most common examples of this.   They’re easy landing spots for a myriad of  insects, but can also be easier to escape.  Some, like the North American thread-leaved sundew  have tube-like leaves that unfurl as they grow.   The leaves are thin, but they  generate enough sticky juice to   catch larger insects such as wasps. Others, such as the common sundew,   which can be found in northern latitudes  throughout the world, have almost spherical   leaves. This makes it possible for them  to catch prey coming from all directions.  But what they all have in common  is the tentacles on their leaves.  They’re usually red, which gives the plant an  alien-like appearance, and have two types of   glands on them. The first type secretes the sweet  sticky nectar that attracts and snares insects.   The second type makes the digestive juices  to break down its prey’s soft tissue.  Over the eons there have been  several genera of carnivorous plants   that use a glue trap strategy to catch  prey, but what sets the sundew apart   is that their tentacles fold in the direction of  the prey in order to maximize points of contact.  Upon landing, the tentacles get  activated and move towards the prey.   The insect will struggle, but soon it will  get tired and drown in the sweet nectar.  In some species this can take about a quarter  of an hour, but in others it will be just a   matter of seconds. Then the  digestive process begins.  Some species, such as the cape sundew,  take it even further by also folding the   leaves at the same time as the tentacles  in order to fully envelop the insect.  Nobody knows for sure how they move their leaves  and tentacles, or how they can tell whether it’s   prey or just debris. It’s suspected that the  movement is caused by chain reactions inside the   cells to make them more acidic and make the cell  walls more flexible, which causes cells to expand.  So, it’s a very complicated process  but the results are amazing.  People have been fascinated by these plants for  hundreds of years, and have used it as a way to   treat a myriad of ailments. Their leaves are used  to treat coughs and ulcers and as an aphrodisiac,   though their only proven medical  quality is as an expectorant.  Because of their beauty and  their unadulterated awesomeness   they’re now also common in  the ornamental plant business.  The most common one are cape sundews and  spoon leaved sundews such as these one,   one of the hardiest droseras. They produce lots  of seeds and require relatively little attention.   It’s a great beginner's drosera. This one over here is actually a hybrid called   drosera andromeda. It doesn’t move at all when  fed, but it’s a great plant for cooler conditions.  Aren't they the cutest? Of course, if you decide to get a sundew, or   any other plant, make sure you do proper research.  They can be very sensitive to minerals in tap   water and other external factors in your home. Or if you’d rather see them in the wild,   make sure to look for them whenever you’re in  a swampy area. The North American east coast   is home to several species. Some of them, such  as the English sundew and the spoonleaf sundew,   can live across the continent, from  the Southern US to northern Canada.   There it is! Ah ha! Ah that's so sticky!  It's so incredibly sticky! Hey guys today we  have sundews look at these little guys! So cute!   They have two different kinds of glands  on them, one is for producing the sweet,   sweet nectar. The other is for producing digestive  enzymes for breaking down their meals! Yum!   These little sundews are carnivorous plants  so they rely on the insects that they catch   that's because their roots are great at  sucking water but suck at sucking nutrients.   Watch this. It's so sticky. Oh my god. Do  you see that? It's stretching like spider   silk! This is incredible ah tell me something  to go to sundew! Sundews come in a variety of   different styles from tubers to epiphytes to  swampers. Tell me something about a sun don't! Swampy! So what should I talk about next? Please let  me know in the comments and don’t forget to   subscribe for new episodes every  week. Thanks for watching. See ya.

Channel: Animalogic

Views: 1,072,088

Keywords: animals, animal, logic, education, animalogic, crazy, ugly, weird, gross, research, learn, learning, smart, alien, sundew, carnivorous plant, venus flytrap, sundews, drosera, carnivorous, cape sundew, science, nature, wild, documentary, macro, botany, horticulture, bog, tentacles, plant, evolution, predator, insect, meat eater, sticky, insects, tentacle, pitcher plant, venus fly trap, prey, eat, eating, meat eating plants, sundews eating, droseras, how do sundews, time lapse, sundew timelapse, sundrew moving, 4k, trap

Id: FLHLQ_kFEVM

Length: 6min 29sec (389 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021