A theme for the coming week is learning to adapt. In the case of those of us who live in town, it will be adapting to the loud noise of rude motorcycle mufflers. I spent the past three weeks in Maine, where my interest in plants germinated before moving to Arkansas more than 35 years ago. I was struck by seeing how plants in harsh habitats learned to adapt to their environment, such as plants growing in a sphagnum bog (the habitat from which peat moss is harvested). In this specialized environment trees turn into bonsais by lack of nutrients in the unforgiving location.
Here, too, one finds cranberries, one of the more unlikely plants to be developed into a commercial fruit. Scarcely ten inches tall, one or two very tart fruits are produced per plant in this high acidic wetland ecosystem. Still other plants such as pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea) as well as sundews (members of the genus Drosera) are also found in the habitat. Instead of deriving nutrients from roots seeking food in soil, they have evolved unique mechanisms for trapping and ingesting insects. They are among the world’s insectivorous plants.
The carnivorous sundews have distinct glandular hairs, perhaps better described as tentacles, topped with glands that secrete sweet sticky mucilage that attracts insects. Once they land in the goo, the insect is usually unable to escape. If it doesn’t die from exhaustion in an attempt to escape, the sticky mucilage secretion from the plant’s tentacles surround, then suffocate, a tiny insect. Once an insect is stuck, the tentacles bend toward the center of the leaf to bring more sticky tentacles into contact with the insect. After the insect succumbs to the effective trap, specialized leaf glands secrete enzymes which melt the insect into liquid nutrients that can be absorbed into the leaf surface then distributed as food other plant parts.
The genus name Drosera comes from a Greek word meaning “dewy” in reference to the glistening glandular hairs on sundew. There are more than 170 species known worldwide on every continent except Antarctica. Eight species occurs in North America, including at least one in Arkansas, Drosera brevifolia, the tiniest North American sundew, found as close as Washington County (among 26 other Arkansas counties), and perhaps in Carroll County.
I enjoyed becoming reacquainted with my old friend Drosera rotundifolia in my recent trip to Maine, which compels me to keep an eye out for Drosera brevifolia in northwest Arkansas. I’m curious. If edible or medicinal, would a vegetarian ingest a carnivorous plant? Whatever the answer, we will adapt. Happy First Day of Autumn.