Drosera rotundifolia

Drosera rotundifolia, “Roundleaf sundew” or “Common sundew” in English and “Droséra à feuilles rondes” in French, belongs to the Droseraceae botanical family.

It is a circumboreal herb that can be 0.1 m tall and was the carnivorous plant most studied by C. Darwin. Native to much of Europe, North Asia and North America, it grows in wet and moist places like sphagnum bogs, swamps and wet sand, sometimes forming a floating fringe on small ponds. It is considered endangered in certain countries.

Sundew has been used since mediaeval times as a remedy for coughs and pulmonary disease, asthma and, externally to treat warts. The flowering plant is antibacterial, antibiotic, antispasmodic, antitussive, demulcent, expectorant and hypoglycemic.

Among its main constituents are 1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives, plumbagin, ramentaceone, ramentone and biramentaceone.

• English name Round-leaf sundew
• French name Drosera