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WELCOME TO SUNDEW MATT'S
CARNIVOROUS PLANT WEBSITE
INTRO: Thanks for visiting my web page. My nick name is SundewMatt
and I'm a carnivorous plant (CP) grower from the Northeastern U.S. I
have been growing carnivorous plants indoors in terraria, under artificial
lights, for many years. I started when I was only 12 - I'm now around
30.
I am unique among CPers in that I specialize in sundews
(Drosera). The sundew's leaves are covered with many sticky
tentacles - when an insect comes in contact with these tentacles, it
gets stuck. As it struggles to escape, it gets covered with more and
more adhesive and digestive enzymes. These enzymes eventually help
to break down the insects body so that the plant can absorb nutrients it
can't get from the nutrient-poor soil in which it grows. Many of you
know of the Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). This plant is
said to have "active traps" because of its moving parts. While sundew
tentacles often slowly fold over their prey, they are considered "passive
fly-paper traps". Although it's not as much fun watching sundews catch
their prey, they are, in my opinion, much more beautiful than any other
carnivorous plants.
Sundews are quite diverse - they come in all different shapes and sizes and
can be found all over the world. They have adapted to a wide range
of conditions. Many grow in permanently wet areas. Others,
particularly Australian tuberous and South African winter growers experience
seasonal drought and go dormant when it's dry. There are temperate
species from North America and Europe which form tight, protective buds called
hibernacula in preparation for the cold winter. Tiny pygmy species
from Australia often grow no larger than a dime and reproduce asexually by
means of gemmae. I concentrate on growing plants from South America
and Africa as they are rare and unusual yet easy to grow under the conditions
I can provide. I also grow other tropical and sub-tropical Drosera,
such as the northern Australian petiolaris complex and pygmy sundews.
It is likely that there are sundews growing somewhere near you! In
fact, there could even be new species in your part of the world waiting to
be discovered! Of course, if you find plants growing naturally, it
is best to leave them where you find them - plants collected from the wild
rarely survive the trauma of being dug up and transplanted to what are always
less than ideal conditions. If you live in or are visiting Africa or
South America or any other tropical or subtropical area where Drosera may
grow, please email me!
It is a personal goal of mine to promote interest in this beautiful genus
of plants and preserve them in cultivation for years to come. While
greenhouses cutlivation is easy, many sundews remain small and are ideal
for indoor plant growers with an eye for unique indoor plants.
Unfortunately, I don't have much spare time these days. So, here are
some links to places where you can find answers to many of the questions
you might have.
Intro / News /
Photos / Info /
Growlist / Sales &
Trades / Wanted /
Links /
Contact
All text and images are Copyright
SundewMatt and may not be copied
without permission.
