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WELCOME TO SUNDEW MATT'S
CARNIVOROUS PLANT WEBSITE
INTRO: Thanks for visiting my web page. My name's 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 almost
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 lands on these tentacles, it gets stuck. As
it struggles to escape, it gets covered with adhesive and digestive enzymes
which 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 summer-dormant species,
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 a variety of other "tropical" Drosera, such
as the northern Australian petiolaris complex.
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.
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. Most
people think they need a greenhouse to grow carnivorous plants. This
may be true of pitcher plants but is not the case for sundews. 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.