Carnivorous plants are an interesting extraordinary phenomenon, when representatives of flora and fauna suddenly change places, and a delicate flower becomes a hunter who knows how to patiently wait for prey and quickly destroy it. Almost 300 species of predator plants have been recorded.
They belong to a wide variety of families and are common in many climatic zones - from the deserts of the Arctic to the tropics. These amazing plants inhabit the Russian open spaces. These insectivorous representatives of the plant kingdom include round-leaved sundew - one of the genus of carnivorous plants of the family sundew, living in swamps, in sandy and mountainous areas. The article is dedicated to her.
Species features
This pretty grass is found on all types of soils, but more often it can be seen on high bogs, where there is no soil in the normal sense of the word, but only peat and sphagnum moss. All plants belonging to the genus of sundews, including round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia l), are insectivores. The name is obtained by the plant due to droplets of clear liquid appearing on thin hairs covering the leaves.
Today, almost one and a half hundred species of sundews are known, and all of them are predators. A similar feature in plants of this genus appeared not by the whim of nature, but because of the need to literally obtain food, since they grow on poor marshy or sandy soils, in which there are practically no nutrients.
Leaves as a hunting mechanism
What characterization of the species Rosyanka rotundifolia give directories? The plant's ability to catch insects is impressive. Longer reddish hairs located at the edges of the leaves produce a sticky substance containing koniin alkaloid, which paralyzes insects that have the imprudence to sit on an insidious leaflet. The fly falling on the leaf adheres firmly to it, and the plant does not doze off - the edges of the leaf slowly twist, completely covering the prey.
The inside of the leaf is lined with shorter hairs containing substances identical to digestive enzymes. They begin to act when curling the sheet. The immobilized insect soon dies, and the leaf gradually assimilates it. In a similar way, the round-leaved sundew makes up for the catastrophic shortage of mineral substances necessary for development, but absent in the places of their distribution. The unique grass demonstrates the wonders of survival in the swamps and, adapting to harsh conditions, develops excellently.
Dewdrop round-leaved: description
This herbaceous perennial is a plant with tremendous adaptive ability, adapted to winter in a special way - before wintering, it forms buds, deepening into the thickness of the moss, so it is impossible to see the plant in October.
And in spring, when the snow melts, one-year-old shoots appear from them - thin and not very long. On top of the sphagnum, a pressed leaf rosette is formed, in which there can be up to a dozen leaves located on long (up to 5-8 cm) petioles. The round shape of the leaf gave the name to the species of round-leaved sundew. The leaf is small, reaching 1 cm in diameter, pubescent with a huge number of hairs and has a green or reddish tint. Its color depends on the degree of illumination - the more light, the greener the sheet.
Flowering and propagation
Despite the fact that a round-leaved sundew appears immediately after the snow melts, flowering occurs unusually late - only in the middle of summer. For a predatory, but pollinated by insects plant, nature has thought out the safest way - flower stalks of sundew are stretched 25-30 cm, and arriving bees do not fall on leaves, usually lying on the soil surface. Small white or slightly pinkish flowers, solitary or collected in a small inflorescence or brush, bloom at the top of the peduncle.
The flower consists of five petals and has nectaries for attracting pollinator insects. Pollinated flowers form boxes with seeds, which fully ripen by the beginning of September. The box opens, the seeds scatter over the surface of the swamp, burrow into the sphagnum and germinate already next spring, repeating the traditional life cycle.
Predatory plant sundew rotundifolia: application
Sundews are famous not only for their unusual lifestyle and habitat. The first documentary evidence of their healing properties is the work of English scientists of the 17th century. Then a valuable property of the plant was noticed - to suppress and cure cough.
The chemical composition of the plant is remarkable: it contains a number of organic, phenopolicarboxylic acids, calcium and potassium salts, tannins and dyes, flavonoids and tonins. But the main feature is the presence of naphthoquinone derivatives - drocerone and plumbagin, which can inhibit the development of pathogenic bacteria and fungi, in particular pertussis pathogens.
The use of this plant in traditional medicine is associated with the substances that make up its composition. Dewdrop has expectorant, diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties, it is used to relax smooth muscles.
Drugs created on the basis of this herb are most often prescribed for bronchitis, asthma, whooping cough, tracheitis.
Application in traditional medicine
Traditional medicine uses the properties of sundew much more widely, using it not only for pulmonary diseases. Using tinctures and decoctions, they practice the treatment of atherosclerosis (including coronary vessels of the heart), epileptic seizures, candidiasis, colds, fever and headaches.
The most effective is the use of sundew preparations as an integral part in herbal preparations. For example, its effect increases if the plant is used in combination with violet and plantain.
Homeopathy is not standing aside. Successfully using the qualities of such plants as sundew, euphorbia, juniper, this area of medicine, in addition to treating respiratory tract diseases, practices external use for skin diseases of various origins. For example, warts are treated by applying fresh leaves to them with the inside.
Features of procurement and application
The whole aerial part of the plant is recognized as a medicinal product. Her workpieces are recommended during flowering. Dry in ventilated areas. You can use special dryers, setting the temperature during drying not higher than 40 ° C. Store grass in cotton bags for no more than two years.
It is important to remember that the use of sundew preparations includes:
• exact compliance with the dosage, since exceeding it will cause negative consequences - vomiting, disruption of the digestive tract, diarrhea;
• careful and exclusively external application of freshly picked leaves.
Intensive use in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the widespread drainage of swamps, has led to the fact that today such a unique plant as the sundew is on the verge of extinction. The Red Book stands on the protection of the plant, controlling the seasonal collection, but everyone should think about it and not break it off without need.
