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Drosera rotundifolia - (image 1 of 6)

Taxonomy

Family: Droseraceae

Habitat

Acid bogs and moist, sandy soils.

Associates

Some of these specimens were found growing with Drosera intermedia, Eriocaulon compressum, Iris versicolor, Sarracenia purpurea, Sphagnum spp., Vaccinium macrocarpon, and Viola lanceolata.

Distribution

Circumboreal; south in North America to SC, GA, TN, IL, and CA.

Morphology

Perennial. Leaves covered in glandular hairs that exude a sticky substance, confined to basal rosette; blade of leaves suborbicular, almost or quite as wide as long. Flowers 3-15, white, 4-7 mm wide, on a glabrous scape to 35 cm; petals 5; stamens 5; ovary superior. Fruit a capsule; seeds finely striate.

Notes

Flowers late June to late August

Wetland indicator: Obligate

Sometimes sold as an oddity. Unfortunately the growing requirements of this species are often overlooked and it winds up being more food for microorganisms than a vicious bug-eating plant. The flowers are a bit more showy than the picture would indicate since they were not yet fully open.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

Niering, W. A. 1979. The Audubon society field guide to North American wildflowers: eastern region.
Knopf/Random House, New York.

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

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