Drosera cuneifolia

Stanton | August 18, 2009 12:14 PM | Edit

I see the vegetable category is already in a sticky situation.

Ryan | August 18, 2009 1:00 PM | Edit

One of my favorite plant genera. Nice photo! I’ve got plenty of Drosera at home and had been thinking about sending in a photo to the contest. Glad to see a carnivorous plant represented in the contest!

Dr. Matt | August 18, 2009 6:19 PM | Edit

Some additional color commentary:

The plant is about 3cm across, at 3 years old from seed collected at Silvermine, near Cape Town. Drosera cuneifolia grows on open ground in scrubby fynbos vegetation. This photograph was taken in late winter; the plants tend to grow in the cooler months, and oversummer as dormant roots. As with all sundews, D. cuneifolia snares insects with mucilage-secreting stalked glands on its leaves, then digests and absorbs nitrogen from captured prey.

Kenneth Oberlander | August 19, 2009 9:48 AM | Edit

Beautiful photo. Any chance of some other South African plants featuring?

Mikel | August 19, 2009 3:05 PM | Edit

I wonder what it ate before the Fall?

Couldn’t help myself :-D

Mikel | August 19, 2009 3:06 PM | Edit

Joking aside, that is one strange and beautiful flower.

Henry J | August 19, 2009 3:30 PM | Edit

I wonder what it ate before the Fall?

It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)

Stanton replied to comment from Mikel | August 19, 2009 3:59 PM | Edit

Mikel said:

Joking aside, that is one strange and beautiful flower.

Technically, those are the leaves: the small flowers look almost identical to those of the closely related Venus Flytrap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:D[…]lyiFlora.jpg

Wheels replied to comment from Henry J | August 19, 2009 3:59 PM | Edit

Henry J said:

I wonder what it ate before the Fall?

It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)

See those fine hairs and sticky secretions? Perfectly designed for chewing tough acorns!

Dr. Matt replied to comment from Wheels | August 19, 2009 5:35 PM | Edit

Wheels said: See those fine hairs and sticky secretions? Perfectly designed for chewing tough acorns!

I have run across vague allusions to “serious” creationist accounts of the purpose of carnivorous plants in the scheme of God’s design, and explanations of what they did before the Fall, but have been completely uninspired to pursue the matter.

Frank J replied to comment from Henry J | August 21, 2009 7:45 AM | Edit

Henry J said:

I wonder what it ate before the Fall?

It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)

Didn’t need to. N2 wasn’t broken until the Fall. ;-)

Stanton replied to comment from Dr. Matt | August 21, 2009 8:11 AM | Edit

Frank J said:

Henry J said:

I wonder what it ate before the Fall?

It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)

Didn’t need to. N2 wasn’t broken until the Fall. ;-)

It lived on pixie dust before the Fall.

Dr. Matt said:

Wheels said: See those fine hairs and sticky secretions? Perfectly designed for chewing tough acorns!

I have run across vague allusions to “serious” creationist accounts of the purpose of carnivorous plants in the scheme of God’s design, and explanations of what they did before the Fall, but have been completely uninspired to pursue the matter.

Such is the true curse that ultimately damns all Creationist “researchers,” a stupefying intellectual ennui that renders them incapable of any academic motivation, yet, simultaneously fills them with a seething, toxic, overwhelmingly arrogant contempt for anyone motivated to do genuine study.

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