Spoon-Leaved Sundew Care, Habitat, Height, & Facts

Quick Facts & Botanical Stats

Plant Category

Carnivorous Plants

Growth Habit

Carnivorous Rosette

Primary Habitat

Wet peat bogs, seepage slopes, and rainforest quartz sand beds.

Average Lifespan

2 - 5 years

Water Requirement

High

Maximum Height

3 - 5 cm

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Native Region

Southeast Asia, Australia, and East Asia

Species Overview

Spoon-Leaved Sundew is a compact carnivorous plant forming glistening red spoon-shaped leaf rosettes.

Physical Appearance & Anatomy

Rosette of spoon-shaped leaves covered in gland-tipped tentacles secreting sticky mucilage droplets.

Habitat & Growth Behavior

Traps small gnats on sticky leaf droplets, then slowly coils leaves around prey.

Ecological Role & Symbioses

Suppresses insect populations in nutrient-poor acidic peat soils.

Reproduction, Lifecycle & Propagation

Produces pink or white flowers on tall stalks above sticky leaves to avoid trapping pollinators.

Conservation Status & Environmental Threats

Widespread and abundant across tropical Asia-Pacific.

Interesting Fun Facts

Its flower stalk grows high above the rosette so visiting pollinators don't get accidentally trapped and eaten.
The glandular tentacles curl around trapped prey in less than an hour.

Related Plants

Venus Flytrap

Endangered

Dionaea muscipula

What is a Venus flytrap? The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a small carnivorous plant belonging to the Droseraceae family. Native exclusively to the nitrogen-poor coastal bogs of North and South Carolina, it is globally famous for its rapid, active leaf traps. Why is the Venus flytrap carnivorous? Because it grows in nutrient-starved, acidic soil, it has evolved traps to catch insects, digesting them to absorb essential nitrogen and phosphorus. Charles Darwin famously described the Venus flytrap as 'one of the most wonderful plants in the world'.

Carnivorous Plants Learn More

Tropical Pitcher Plant

Least Concern

Nepenthes rafflesiana

What is a tropical pitcher plant? Nepenthes rafflesiana is a species of carnivorous climbing vine belonging to the Nepenthaceae family. Native to the hot, humid lowlands of Borneo and Sumatra, it is famous for its large, urn-shaped pitcher leaves that trap and digest prey. How do pitcher plants catch insects? Unlike the active Venus flytrap, pitcher plants use passive pitfall traps. Insects are lured by nectar, slip on the waxy rim, fall into a pool of digestive fluid, and dissolve.