Are Sundews Poisonous
Or A Danger to Kids or Pets?
Sundews (Drosera sp.) are often feared because of their 'poisonous nature'. Sundews can catch very small flying insects like gnats, flies, etc. using their sticky mucilage (glue) wonder. Many people think that the sundew's glue is actually poisonous - many believe the poor fly may die if it gets stuck on a sundew. This little fear contributes to the bad reputation of this beautiful carnivorous plant genus. The truth is that sundews may not be as dangerous as you might think!.
NO NEED TO FEAR THE SUNDEWS… Most importantly, there has never been any reports or information about anyone being poisoned by eating or touching a sundew . It appears that the threat of poisoning by sundews is just an old wives tail.
THE REAL REASON WHY SUNDEWS HAVE A BAD REPUTATION… I think the reason why sundews have a bad reputation is for two reasons: Firstly, sundews do indeed catch and kill about 1,000's of insects every year on average. Many people see this as "animal cruelty" - even if they were bugs which would destroy your garden! Secondly, these poor innocent insects die from being stuck in the plant's mucilage (glue). The fly may struggle for a while until it becomes exhausted and stops moving . Unfortunately, because the insect has stopped struggling many people falsely believe its dead. Sundews are unique plants – their trapping mechanism allows them to quickly and efficiently eat bugs – a very good thing for the environment.
DOES THE SUNDEWS POISON ITS FOOD? Not really, no! The sundew's sticky mucilage (glue) contains enzymes which digest insects. Sundews don't actually 'poison' their prey - they simply use general digestive enzymes to quickly consume and dissolve the insect into a nutrient rich material for absorption . Many people think that because of this process, somehow, the nutrients from digesting the food are also poisonous to people... I suppose this flawed logic could make sense if your body was made of jelly... but our bodies aren't made out of jelly! Like all other animals on planet earth we have very enzymes in our stomach which only digest animal matter. The enzymes digest the insect just like our stomach would. These enzymes have evolved to be able to break down pretty much anything that an insect may eat – including being able to break down leftover plant matter... because, after all, insects don't always eat perfectly! Unfortunately this idea is still fairly common - even though it's flawed logic at best!
HOW DOES THE SUNDEWS ABSORB NUTRIENTS FROM ITS FOOD? Sundews are so advanced they actually absorb nutrients through their tentacles using glands called s trivascular bundles . These small strand-like bundles of vascular tissue allow photosynthesising plants (e.g sundews) to transport water and dissolved minerals up from the roots into the plant's body . To make a long story short, sundews absorb nutrients from digesting their prey in the same way humans and other animals do - through our guts!
Conclusion
What all this means is that sundews are actually ok to have around humans and the environment. They're not poisonous, they don't harm us, and they're part of a helpful ecological cycle which reduces the number of insects in our gardens! As long as you keep your sundews out of reach of children or pets I'm sure everyone will be happy with them around. Remember – if you feed your sundew lots of bugs, its glue won't be covered in yukky stuff most of the time so it'll conserve most of its killer instinct for catching food.
