Botanical model of a carnivorous plant (Drosera rotundifolia) by Robert and

Botanical model of a carnivorous plant (Drosera rotundifolia) by Robert and Reinhold Brendel.
Papier-mâché, glass, wood.
Germany.
Before 1900.
h. 38 cm.

Botanical papier-mâché model of a drosera rotundifolia, or round-leaved sundew. Drosera is a carnivorous plant that grows in the temperate climates of northern Europe and America, and feeds on insects, which it attracts thanks to the shiny appearance of its mucilage, covered in a sweet substance. Robert and Reinhold Brendel therefore chose to add to their model a fly caught in a trap, enlarged twenty times. The representation of an insect is an extremely rare detail among Brendel’s models, and even rarer among those that remain in good condition a century after they were made.

This model of drosera rotundifolia is listed in the catalog ’Preisliste über Botanische Modelle... von R.Brendel’ of 1900, no. 130, in the V? section of the catalog devoted to poisonous flowers.

Sources

Preisliste über Botanische Modelle gefertigt und herausgegegeben von R. Brendel, Berlin, 1900.