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A carnivorous plant, the Round-leaved Sundew — also known by its scientific name Drosera rotundifolia — has recently been discovered in Kentucky.
The interesting news was revealed in a Facebook post by the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves.
The first time the Round-leaved Sundew was spotted in the area was in a secluded gorge within the Cumberland Plateau, partly in eastern Kentucky.
These particular plants are surviving in an environment that can be described as a sunlit, damp cliff above a stream, attached to "small moss-covered cracks in the sandstone bedrock."
Despite the challenging conditions of this nutrient-deficient setting with minimal soil, the plant flourishes mainly due to trapped insects. Similar to the well-known Venus flytrap, this plant sustains itself by extracting nutrients from insects it entices with its sticky adhesive-like glands which cover its leaves. The prey are then dissolved before their nutrients are absorbed by the leaves.
While the Round-leaved Sundew is not a novelty in the Northern Hemisphere, being found in regions like central Ohio and the mountains of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, its newfound existence in Kentucky has prompted officials to designate it as Endangered at the state level due to its singular presence in the region.