| This is a plant of boggy heaths and moors and is usually
found on peat soils which is why we found a profusion on them growing
in a Dartmoor bog. It overcomes the nutrient lacking environment by catching
and digesting insects such as ants, beetles, damselflies, midges and wasps.
Easily recognisable with its rosette of reddish leaves; each leaf is covered
in long hairs each of which is covered in a sticky liquid which acts as
a lure for insects. Once an insect takes the bait and settles on a leaf
it becomes stuck, the hairs bend over and enclose the prey suffocating
it in the liquid. In a few hours the plant digests its victim through
its leaves using acids and enzymes; each leaf can only be used three times
in this fashion by the plant before the leaf dies. Traditionally the liquid
has been used as a cure for warts and corns. |
