A BRITISH PLANT THAT EATS AN INSECT
1~
The round-leaved sundew, common on
'and heaths, is one of the most interesting of our native plants, for it catches insects and eats them,
2.
Its leaves, the size of a
reepenny-bit, are covered
with about 200 hair-like tentacles. clubbed at the end and covered with a sticky substance that glistens in the sun,
The tentacles remain spread out till an unwary fly in search of nectar happens to touch one or more with its antennae. At once it is held and the more it struggles to rree itself the more hopelessly it becomes involved in the grip of the flower. Slowly the tentacles close in on the fly,
3.
enveloped it is suffoabout a quarter of an hour, and acids from the leaf help the Vlant to digest it.