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Roridula
Also called Giant Sundews
Roridula is a small genus of two evergreen, insect-trapping shrubs from South Africa's Western Cape, commonly known as dewsticks or giant sundews. They are grown mainly by specialist carnivorous plant collectors, and the key to growing them is acidic, nutrient-poor, moist conditions.
Roridula (; from Latin roridus "dewy") is a genus of evergreen, insect-trapping shrubs, with two species, of about 1.3–2 m (4.3–6.6 ft). It is the only genus in the family Roridulaceae. It has thin, woody, shyly branching, upright, initially brown, later grey stems, with lance- to awl-shaped leaves crowded at their tips. The star-symmetrical flowers consist from the outside in of five, green or reddish, free sepals, alternating with five white, pink or purple, free petals. Further to the middle and opposite the sepals are five stamens with the anthers initially kinked down. These suddenly flip up if the nectar-containing swelling at its base is being touched. The center of the flower is occupied by a superior ovary. The leaves and sepals carry many sticky tentacles of different sizes, that trap insects.
The genus Roridula is endemic to parts of the mountains in the west and southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa. R. dentata can be found in the mountains of Tulbagh, Clanwilliam and Ceres. R. gorgonias occurs between Somerset West and Swellendam. Both species grow on acidic and nutrient-poor, sandy soils, in locations that are relatively moist, at altitudes of 900–1,200 m (3,000–3,900 ft) for R. dentata and 150–925 m (500–3,000 ft) for R. gorgonias.
Early settlers in parts of the Cape used to hang Roridula branches from the ceiling to catch flies.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Roridula by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
