Currently vying with the bladderworts for the position of largest genus of carnivorous plants, the sundews are a broad, ubiquitous group spanning every continent (save for Antarctica of course) and nearly every habitat type except for true desert regions. From the tropic rainforests of northern Australia and the Amazon, to highland bogs and seeps of mountain ranges and even the peatlands of the Tundra, there is a species for nearly every region imaginable (and for those in the US, sundews can be found in almost every single state). Sundews range immensely in size too, from the tiny half-inch pygmies of Australia to the King and Magnificent Sundews of South Africa and Brazil, or the massive branching and climbing stems of some tuberous Australian species. 

The vast size of this genus provides a lot of room for diversity and distinct groups among species, with many sundews being so far removed from each other that they are barely reminiscent of each other (save for having sticky traps) and even at one point divided into several different genera of their own. The species accounts below are arranged into either distinct groups of related species, or by regions containing large numbers of unique species. These include the tuberous sundews, pygmy sundews, Latin American and South African groups, among others. 

Sundews possess a long history, being among the first carnivorous plants described by people (a manuscript dating back to the 1400's with a distinct picture of a sundew in it is still yet untranslated), and were among the plants used by none other than Charles Darwin himself to prove that plants could eat animals. So enamored was Darwin with the properties of these strange, sticky plants that could move on their own that he once quoted, "I care more about the history of Drosera than that of the origin of all the species on earth." From the father of the theory of evolution, that's quite a claim. Many sundews are also purported to have medicinal properties, the secretions of the glands as well as extract of leaves of such species as D. anglica and D. rotundifolia used as anti-inflammatory medications (though in some cases they have also been adopted in homeopathic medicines, leaving many skeptical of their true attributes).

Many people are also surprised to learn that sundews are the closest relatives to such different looking plants as the Venus Flytrap and Waterwheel plant, the only snap-trap carnivores known. One look at plants such as D. falconeri however might show how plants with sticky moving leaves might have turned instead into snapping jaws. An even more ancient ancestry might be shared with several other carnivorous groups as well, including the Dewy Pine, African Hookleaf, and the tropical pitcher plants.