Great Sundew

Great Sundew

In the swamps of ‘Hohes Venn’ (the greatest and oldest National Park of Belgium and the most unique nature biotope in the land), I spotted for the first time a Great Sundew (also known as English Sundew).

The Great Sundew is a carnivorous plant species (native to Europe, North America and Japan) with leaves that form a very eye-catching rosette.

The favoured habitat of this plant consists of wet swamps and puddles in raised bogs.
Its leaves are densely covered with mucilaginous glands (called tentacles), each tipped with a clear droplet of a viscous fluid used for trapping insects.
Once caught by such a sticky tentacle, an insect can never get out again.

Most of its prey consists of small insects such as flies but also bulkier insects like butterflies, damselflies, and even dragonflies are caught.

Dutch name : Lange zonnedauw
German name : Langblättriger Sonnentau
Latin name : Drosera anglica