Drosera brevifolia Pursh

Dwarf Sundew

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Dwarf Sundew is a native annual or biennial herb in the Sundew family (Droseraceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Dwarf Sundew grows in bogs, in seeps, along small ponds and streams, and in wet roadside ditches, usually on sandy or peaty soils in full sun. It is the smallest species of Sundew in the United States, and is often overlooked. It is an annual or biennial with a tap root. The leaves form a basal rosette. The leaves are prostrate with a short, glandular petiole. The leaf blade is cuneate, red or green in color, with large stalked glands. From 1-8 flowers are produced on a stipitate glandular scape. The individual flowers have 5 green, stipitate glandular sepals and 5 white petals. The fruit is a capsule. The flowers only open on sunny days and will close on cloudy or over-cast days and at night. Like all Sundews, Dwarf Sundew is insectivorous, catching and digesting small arthropods. The glandular trichomes on the leaves respond to stimuli and will bend towards the entrapped prey, pressing it to the leaf surface. Digestive enzymes are secreted that break down the prey and the leaf absorbs the nutrients. Dwarf Sundew is similar to Pink Sundew (Drosera capillaris Poiret). Pink Sundew has distinct petioles usually without glands, no glands on the flowering scape, and pink petals.—A. Diamond

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Native OBL (NWPL)

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