Elven fire has long been a part of European folk lore. Tolkien uses the theme in the Hobbit when Elves use fire to draw a band of Dwarfs into a forest where they became ensnared.

I think Tolkien would have laughed if he were alive to learn of the discovery of Drosera hartmeyertorum, a plant which does exactly the same thing.

This plant is very difficult, and only lives for a few months before it spreads it's seeds and then dies in cool weather, so I make apology for the quality of my picture. I'll have to wait till next year to get more. They only grow in a very small area of Australia, and have to catch large amounts of food in a very short while, so they have a unique and bizzare advantage over other plants.

This species, Drosera hartmeyerorum is fairly newly discovered, and there's not much out there on the web. Here's what mine looked like in full growth:


The yellow round growths on the leaves look yellow, as in the picture, but the surfaces of the growths are clear. Inside are a dozen convex botanical lenses with a yellow core. These giant biological lenses reflect back sunlight like those reflectors dividing highway lanes. Notice the red color of the rest of the plant. Red can't be seen by many insects, which is why traditionally hummingbird feeders have their syrup dyed red, so bees won't be attracted to them.

So, what the insect prey sees is very much like what you and I see when coming in to an airport at night, with runway lights pointing towards the landing strip. They are yellow for that reason. You've all heard the expression "as a moth to a flame" and these lights prove irresistible to those insects the plant specialises in eating. The "runways" lead to the parts of the plant that digest prey.

To make it even more outlandish, the favorite prey of this plant is a kind of grasshopper in a certain immature stage. This grasshoppers like to rest at the same distance off the ground at the same height D. hartmeyertorum first start producing these yellow nodules. When the strands of grass the grasshoppers rest on wave back and forth, they pass between the grasshopper's vision and D. hartmeyertorum, and to the insect it looks like the lights are flashing!

There are animals, like undersea fish that use light to capture prey, but to my knowledge this is the only example of a plant using light to capture prey. And they do it by collecting sunlight, changing it's color and intensifying it.

Here's a paper in German by it's discoverer for some close ups of the nodules
lDer Sonnentau mit Lichtreflektoren deutsch

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Tim Vaughan
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian, OPC,
Santa Maria
California

Wow! Thank you for sharing that.

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Jon Lake
Whitehouse,Texas/ Member: Good Shepherd (REC)

Wow, that was very interesting! At first I thought you were going to share how those plants were causing bearded midgets to raid your garden

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Andrew Thornquist My Photo Album
Calvinistic Baptist
Ukiah, California
To follow Christ was the best decision God made for me!

Very cool Tim!

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In Essentials Unity, in non-Essentials Liberty, in all things Charity.

Robert Paul Wieland
Springs Reformed Presbyterian Church
Colorado Springs, CO RPCNA
Student at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh PA
Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.

Indeed!

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Paul Korte
OPC
Flint, MI

They who perceive in themselves discoveries of the divine goodness, so full and absolutely perfect, and who make them the subject of earnest meditation, will never embrace new doctrines, by which the very grace they feel so powerfully in themselves is thrown into the shade. --John Calvin

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It's good to see newly discovered plants eating critters.

Theognome

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Bill Cunningham
Covenant Reformed Church, URC
Kansas City
There are three kinds of people- those who can count, and those who can't.

That is such a great testimony of the wonders of God's creation.

And so much better than what I expected
...which was some sort of flame that Elvis used to heat up banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

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Richard H. King
Providence PCA
Lubbock, Texas
You know what my main problem is? I start things but rarely finish anyth...

The PB Botanist strikes again. Your plant postings are always most interesting, Tim.

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James Helbert, Wytheville, VA
Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCUS
TheBibleAlone.com / The Edinburgh Inn
"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” - Zechariah 3:2

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