Round-leaved sundew: description, application, useful properties, reproduction

Carnivorous plants - an interesting and unusual phenomenon, when the representatives of the flora and fauna suddenly change places, and the tender flower becomes a hunter, able to wait patiently for prey and rapidly destroy it. The existence of almost 300 species of predator plants is recorded. They belong to very different families and are distributed in the territories of many climatic zones - from the deserts of the Arctic to the tropics. These amazing plants also live in the Russian open spaces. Such insectivorous representatives of the vegetable kingdom include the round-leaved sundew-one of the genus of carnivorous plants of the Rosyak family, living in swamps, in sandy and mountainous areas. The article is devoted to it.

Species Features

This pretty grass is found on all types of soils, but more often it can be seen on the upper marshes where there is no soil in the normal sense of the word, but only peat and sphagnum moss. All plants belonging to the genus sundew, including daffodil (Drosera rotundifolia l), are insectivorous. The name was obtained by the plant because of droplets of clear liquid appearing on thin hairs covering the leaves.

Today, almost one hundred and fifty species of sundew are known, and all of them are predators. A similar feature in plants of this genus did not come from the whims of nature, but because of the need to extract food in the most direct sense, since they grow on poor marshy or sandy soils, where practically no nutrients exist.

Leaves as a hunter mechanism

What characteristics of the species Rosyanka round-leaved give directories? The plant's adaptability to catching insects is impressive. Longer reddish hairs, located at the edges of the leaves, produce a sticky substance containing the cone alkaloid, paralyzing insects, having a carelessness to sit on a treacherous leaf. The fly falling on the leaf firmly adheres to it, and the plant does not slumber - the edges of the leaf slowly twist, completely covering the prey.

The inner part of the leaf is lined with shorter hairs containing substances identical to digestive enzymes. They start to work when the sheet is twisting. An immobilized insect soon dies, and the leaf gradually absorbs it. Similarly, the round-leaved sardine replenishes the catastrophic shortage of minerals necessary for development, but absent in the places where they spread. Unique grass shows miracles of survival in the marshes and, having adapted to severe conditions, excellently develops.

Roundhead Rosyana: description

This herbaceous perennial is a plant with a tremendous adaptive ability, adapted to winter in a special way - before wintering it forms buds, deepening into the thickness of moss, so it is impossible to see the plant in October. And in the spring, when the snow comes down, one-run shoots appear - thin and not very long. Above on the sphagnum formed a pressed leaf socket, in which there can be up to a dozen leaves, located on long (up to 5-8 cm) petioles. The round form of the leaf gave the name to the round-headed sundew type. Leaf small, reaching 1 cm in diameter, is covered with a huge number of hairs and has a green or reddish hue. Its color depends on the degree of illumination - the more light, the greener the leaf.

Blooming and reproduction

Despite the fact that there is a round-leaved sundew immediately after the melting of the snow, the bloom begins unusually late - only in the middle of summer. For predatory, but insect-pollinated plants, nature thought out the safest way - sundew stems stretch for 25-30 cm, and incoming bees do not fall on leaves, usually lying on the surface of the soil. Small white or slightly pinkish flowers, solitary or collected in a small inflorescence or a brush, blossom on the top of the peduncle.

The flower consists of five petals and has nectaries to attract pollinators-insects. Polluted flowers form boxes with seeds, full maturation of which occurs by the beginning of September. The capsule is opened, the seeds fly over the surface of the swamp, burrow into the sphagnum and germinate the next spring, repeating the traditional life cycle.

Predatory plant sundew

Rosyanka are famous not only for their unusual way of life and their habitat. The first documentary evidence of their medicinal properties is the works of English scientists of the 17th century. Then it was noticed a valuable property of the plant - to suppress and cure cough.

The chemical composition of the plant is remarkable: it contains a whole range of organic, phenopolycarboxylic acids, calcium and potassium salts, tannins and colorants, flavonoids and tonic. But the main feature is the presence of naphthoquinone derivatives - drocerone and plumbagin, which can suppress the development of pathogenic bacteria and fungi, in particular pertussis causative agents.

The use of this plant in traditional medicine is associated with the substances that make up its composition. Rosyanka has expectorant, diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties, is used to relax smooth muscles.

Drugs based on this herb are most commonly prescribed for bronchitis, asthma, pertussis, tracheitis.

Application in folk medicine

Traditional medicine uses the properties of sundew more widely, applying it not only for pulmonary diseases. Applying tinctures and broths, practice the treatment of atherosclerosis (including coronary vessels of the heart), epileptic seizures, candidiasis, colds, fever and headaches.

The most effective is the use of sundew preparations as part of the herbal collection. For example, its effect increases if the plant is used in combination with violets and plantain.

Do not stand aside and homeopathy. Successfully using the qualities of plants such as rosewater, euphorbia, juniper, this area of medicine, except for the treatment of respiratory diseases, practices external application for skin diseases of various origins. For example, warts are treated by applying fresh leaves to the inner side.

Features of preparation and application

Medicinal all overground part of a plant is recognized. Its blanks are recommended to be carried out during flowering. Dry in ventilated areas. You can use special dryers, setting the temperature when drying is not higher than 40 ° C. They store grass in cotton bags for no more than two years.

It is important to remember that the use of sundew preparations provides:

• Accurate compliance with dosage, as excess of it will cause negative consequences - vomiting, disruption of the digestive tract, diarrhea;

• cautious and exceptionally external application of freshly cut leaves.

Intensive use in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as widespread dehumidification of the marshes, led to the fact that today such a unique plant as the rosewood is on the verge of extinction. The red book is on the protection of the plant, controlling the seasonal collection, but to think about it and not to rip it without the need is for everyone.

How to grow sundew at home

Indiscriminate sundew can be successfully grown at home, planting seeds that can be harvested in autumn, or transplanting the plant with a small patch of soil on which it grew in nature.

The best variant of a substrate suitable for sundew is a mixture of peat and sand in equal proportions, imitating the natural composition. It is desirable to ensure watering the plant from below by installing a container of sundew in a tray of water. Spray the plant can not, the decorative effect it possesses will be lost. Do not need sundew and feeding, additional food can hurt her. Proper care for the plant is only a good moisturizing and properly selected soil composition. If these conditions are met, the round-leaved sundew will blossom on the windowsill in the summer, having pleased the flower grower with delicate flowers.