Perennial insectivorous herbs. Leaves all in basal rosettes, reddish and covered with sticky glandular hairs, petiolate, with stipules. Inflorescence a simple cyme on a peduncle from ground level; flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous, usually remaining closed. Calyx 5- to 8-lobed. Petals 5–8, white. Stamens 5–8. Styles 2–6, often deeply divided above and free or fused below; stigmas linear. Ovary 1-celled, with many ovules. Fruit a capsule.

Contains 4 genera found throughout the world but concentrated in Australia and New Zealand.

Sundews entrap insects, which are caught on the sticky glandular hairs of the outer edge of the leaves. The leaf then coils over the insect and uses the shorter glandular hairs on the centre of the leaf to digest it.

Drosera L.

As family.

Contains about 100 species in acid, sandy, stony and boggy places.