Day of the Triffids


In nature, you are either on the prowl or on the menu. I’m not sure what is trapped in the maw of the round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) pictured above, but it probably never realised it was prey at all. The sundew is a plant that hunts – it catches food by emitting a sticky substance on hair-like growths on its leaves. The sticky substance – which looks like dew glistening in the sun – traps passerby insects which die. As the dead insect decays, the plant feasts. Sundews are bog plants, which is where I photographed this one, on the outskirts of Galway city.