One of my favorite plant genera. Nice photo! I've got plenty of Drosera at home and had been thinking about sending in a photo to the contest. Glad to see a carnivorous plant represented in the contest!
The plant is about 3cm across, at 3 years old from seed collected at Silvermine, near Cape Town. Drosera cuneifolia grows on open ground in scrubby fynbos vegetation. This photograph was taken in late winter; the plants tend to grow in the cooler months, and oversummer as dormant roots. As with all sundews, D. cuneifolia snares insects with mucilage-secreting stalked glands on its leaves, then digests and absorbs nitrogen from captured prey.
Kenneth Oberlander · 19 August 2009
Beautiful photo. Any chance of some other South African plants featuring?
Mikel said:
Joking aside, that is one strange and beautiful flower.
Technically, those are the leaves: the small flowers look almost identical to those of the closely related Venus Flytrap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DroseraKenneallyiFlora.jpg
Wheels · 19 August 2009
Henry J said:
I wonder what it ate before the Fall?
It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)
See those fine hairs and sticky secretions? Perfectly designed for chewing tough acorns!
Wheels said:
See those fine hairs and sticky secretions? Perfectly designed for chewing tough acorns!
I have run across vague allusions to "serious" creationist accounts of the purpose of carnivorous plants in the scheme of God's design, and explanations of what they did before the Fall, but have been completely uninspired to pursue the matter.
Frank J · 21 August 2009
Henry J said:
I wonder what it ate before the Fall?
It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)
Didn't need to. N2 wasn't broken until the Fall. ;-)
It probably fixed its own nitrogen right out of the air. ;)
Didn't need to. N2 wasn't broken until the Fall. ;-)
It lived on pixie dust before the Fall.
Dr. Matt said:
Wheels said:
See those fine hairs and sticky secretions? Perfectly designed for chewing tough acorns!
I have run across vague allusions to "serious" creationist accounts of the purpose of carnivorous plants in the scheme of God's design, and explanations of what they did before the Fall, but have been completely uninspired to pursue the matter.
Such is the true curse that ultimately damns all Creationist "researchers," a stupefying intellectual ennui that renders them incapable of any academic motivation, yet, simultaneously fills them with a seething, toxic, overwhelmingly arrogant contempt for anyone motivated to do genuine study.
12 Comments
Stanton · 18 August 2009
I see the vegetable category is already in a sticky situation.
Ryan · 18 August 2009
One of my favorite plant genera. Nice photo! I've got plenty of Drosera at home and had been thinking about sending in a photo to the contest. Glad to see a carnivorous plant represented in the contest!
Dr. Matt · 18 August 2009
Some additional color commentary:
The plant is about 3cm across, at 3 years old from seed collected at Silvermine, near Cape Town. Drosera cuneifolia grows on open ground in scrubby fynbos vegetation. This photograph was taken in late winter; the plants tend to grow in the cooler months, and oversummer as dormant roots. As with all sundews, D. cuneifolia snares insects with mucilage-secreting stalked glands on its leaves, then digests and absorbs nitrogen from captured prey.
Kenneth Oberlander · 19 August 2009
Beautiful photo.
Any chance of some other South African plants featuring?
Mikel · 19 August 2009
I wonder what it ate before the Fall?
Couldn't help myself :-D
Mikel · 19 August 2009
Joking aside, that is one strange and beautiful flower.
Henry J · 19 August 2009
Stanton · 19 August 2009
Wheels · 19 August 2009
Dr. Matt · 19 August 2009
Frank J · 21 August 2009
Stanton · 21 August 2009