Roridula

Roridula
Roridula gorgonias
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Roridulaceae Engl. & Gilg (1924) nom.cons.
Genus:	Roridula L. (1764)
Species
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Roridula distribution

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Roridula (/rɒˈrɪdjʊlə/; from Latin roridus "dewy") is a South African genus of plants restricted to the Cape Provinces. Its distribution is threatened due to the farming of rooibos. While having many of the adaptations of a carnivorous plant, such as the possession of insect-trapping sticky hairs, it does not directly digest the animals it traps. Instead, it has a mutualistic relationship with Pameridea roridulae, a species of capsid bug, which lives on the plant and feeds on the trapped insects. The plant obtains nutrients from the droppings of this symbiotic insect. It is sometimes called .

A pair of fossilised leaves from Eocene Baltic amber have been attributed to the Roridulaceae. The amber is from sediments dated to 35–47 million years ago. Definite fossils of carnivorous plant traps have never previously been found. Their location in the Baltic suggests that the genus Roridula, although now restricted to South Africa, was much more widespread in the past.

The species are:

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