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Spoon-leaved Sundew (carnivorous plant)

Drosera spatulata

Description:

My 500th spotting, and it's taken me over 2 years to get here. Yes, I am a plodder. I wanted to show something a little bit different to mark the occasion, so I thought a carnivorous plant might just fit the bill. This is a Spoon-leaved Sundew, and it's a variable, rosette-forming plant with spoon-shaped leaves. The upper surface of the leaves have glands that secrete a sticky substance. There are two types of glands - stalked glands that capture the insects, and sessile glands that secretes enzymes and absorbed the nutrients from the trapped insects. This species also has small red buds which produce white flowers (photo 4). Pretty cool, eh?

Habitat:

Spotted on the western shore of Brown Lake (conservation area), North Stradbroke Island. Growing in moist white sand amongst water reeds at lakes edge. Sand appeared to be mixed with some soil and decomposed vegetation, so probably nutrient-rich. Good sunlight for most of the day. This is a freshwater lake.

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20 Comments

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Bring back the mega fauna! I could use a marsupial lion right now.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Crazy thing is that the drop bear was very real not too long ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial_l...

triggsturner
triggsturner 8 years ago

Thanks Neil, very funny! Vegemite did work well until they changed the recipe!! ;)

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Cheers, Ashley and Dan. They are quite amazing. I'm on the look-out now for more species.

AshleyT
AshleyT 8 years ago

Great series, Neil! Love the close-up, sundew are so neat! Congrats on 500 :)

Dan Doucette
Dan Doucette 8 years ago

Nice sundew Neil! Congrats on 500.

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Cheers, Triggs. A little bit of subtle humour that Aussies and Kiwis get a kick out of. You'll love this - http://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-bear... Still makes me chuckle :)

triggsturner
triggsturner 8 years ago

Another great series Neil. Congrats on your 500. Like the Drop Bear avatar :)

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Thanks. It's a gorgeous habitat, and so pristine. Little sundews are happy living there.

Brilliant plant indeed! And what a nice habitat. I see a congrats is in order: Congratulations!

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Thanks very much, Muana. Brilliant plants.

mauna Kunzah
mauna Kunzah 8 years ago

Congrats on spotting #500! Pretty cool plant.

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Thanks guys. I never thought I'd reach 500. Now I'll sweat it out to 1K. And Daniele, Brown Lake is awesome. Didn't see the frogs, but the wrong time of the day and it's still so warm. Next time I'll stay a few days and do some night spotting. Will also check out Blue and Turtle Lakes. I'm off to Girraween on Monday :)

Jae
Jae 8 years ago

Great spotting and congrats, Neil.

arlanda
arlanda 8 years ago

Congratulations Neil, wonderful spotting

DanielePralong
DanielePralong 8 years ago

Congrats Neil! As Mark said. It's not about numbers :-) Brown Lake is great isn't it? Did you see any frogs there?

Zlatan Celebic
Zlatan Celebic 8 years ago

Great one - good choice for 500th!

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 8 years ago

Thanks, Mark and Marek. Slow as I may be, I do my best.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Congrats Neil. Plod with quality. :)

Marek Koszorek
Marek Koszorek 8 years ago

Very nice :)

Neil Ross
Spotted by
Neil Ross

North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia

Spotted on May 27, 2015
Submitted on May 29, 2015

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