Common Name: SUNDEW FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, [subshrub], carnivorous; roots weak. Leaf: generally basal rosette, often coiled in bud; blade with insect-catching hairs adaxially, hairs gland-tipped and sticky, [sensitive bristles]. Inflorescence: cyme, raceme-like, [flowers solitary]; flowers [1] few, on long peduncle. Flower: bisexual, radial; calyx lobes generally 5; petals generally 5, free or +- fused; stamens (4)5 [(10)20]; pistil 1, ovary superior, chamber 1, placentas generally 3(5), parietal, style generally 3(5), each generally 2-lobed. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal; valves generally 3(5). Seed: generally many, spindle-shaped.
Genera In Family: 3 genera (2 with 1 sp. each), 170+ species: temperate, tropics, especially Australia, South America, southern Africa; especially in bogs, swamps; some cultivated as novelties (Dionaea, Venus' fly-trap, of southeastern United States).
eFlora Treatment Author: Elizabeth L. Painter & William J. Stone
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: SUNDEW
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, often +- brown or +- red. Leaf: petiole long; adaxial blade hairs gland-tipped. Inflorescence: raceme-like cyme. Flower: sepals, petals, stamens generally 5; petals white, pink, or purple; styles, placentas, valves generally 3.
Etymology: (Greek: dewy) Note: Insects and other organisms trapped by sticky fluid secreted by leaf glands are secured by leaf folding around them and digested by bacteria as well as additional leaf secretions (enzymes, ribonucleases), providing nutrition; many cultivated and/or non-native taxa, not all documented by specimens, persisting in NCo (Mendocino Co., including Drosera tracyi Macfarl.), northern SNH (Plumas Co.) after reported, ill-advised plantings.
Unabridged Note: Drosera aliciae Raym.-Hamet and Drosera capensis L. (NCo; Mendocino Co.), and Drosera × hybrida Macf. (northern SNH; Plumas Co.), all documented by specimens, all persisting from reported, ill-advised plantings. Drosera binata Labill., Drosera burmanni Vahl, Drosera capillaris Poir., Drosera filiformis Raf., Drosera intermedia Hayne, Drosera nitidula Planch., Drosera occidentalis Morr., Drosera tracyi Macfarl., and Drosera slackii Cheek all have been reported in NCo (Mendocino Co.) from similar plantings, but are not documented by specimens.