Drosera heterophylla Swamp rainbow

Swamp Rainbow

• Uploaded by Magnus Manske

Drosera heterophylla called Swamp rainbow because they grow in winter wet areas and when the sunlight shines through the droplets on the lamina, a rainbow is formed in each droplet. It is very pretty to see. A little of the rainbow lights are showing below the flower.

This is a host plant to Drosera bugs or Setocoris sp "Western Australian Setocoris species have a body length of about 4 mm, two antennae 2.5 mm long and a proboscis 1.5mm long. The front pair of legs is often used like hands in the act of preening. ....

The sundew bug robs the host plant of a source of nutrients. What the host plant gets in return is unclear. ... The sundew but may keep the number of prey caught in check, leaving just enough for the host plant. ... If this is the case then the role of the sundew bug is to remove the excess prey that would otherwise decay and foul the leaf surfaces of the host plant."

Carnivorous Plants of Australia Volume 3 by Allen Lowrie

Drosera plants are a carnivorous plant which has insect trapping parts on its leaf called lamina. Around the lamina are sticky glands which holds an insect if it walks over the leaf. The plants have the capacity to move the glands toward the struggling prey and hold it for digestion.

This is part of a series in relation to Drosera (Setocoris) bugs