Sundews are some of the most beautiful but tricky plants on Earth! Their leaves are covered in dozens of tiny red hairs, and each hair has a sparkly drop of “dew” on the tip. But that shiny dew is not water at all. It is actually super sticky glue that the plant makes to catch its dinner!
When a bug lands on a sundew leaf, it gets stuck right away and cannot escape! The more the bug wiggles, the more sticky drops it touches. Then the sundew slowly curls its leaf around the bug over the next few hours, like a tiny hand closing into a fist. The plant uses special juices to break down the bug and get nutrients.
- There are almost 200 different kinds of sundews growing all around the world!
- Some sundews are as small as a penny, and others can grow long trailing leaves.
- After about a day or two, the leaf uncurls and the sticky drops appear again, ready to catch the next unlucky visitor.
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