I moved to newfoundland nearly a year ago. Newfoundland's provincial plant is the pitcher plant:

 

 

Recently I discovered that they also have the sundew plants here... This is the only photo I didn't take:

 

 

And last week I found out we also have the round-leafed variety of sundew:

 

 

I am now completely fascinated in these things. I read somewhere that the sundews can actually wrap themselves around their prey by growing. Some of them can apparently bend themselves 180° in one minute in this fashion.

 

Is that possible?

Careful mate - don't get too close, they can have your leg off!!

I read somewhere that the sundews can actually wrap themselves around their prey by growing. Some of them can apparently bend themselves 180° in one minute in this fashion.

 

Is that possible?

Why not? It would be a very similar adaptation to the ones which occurred in climbing vines and ivy.

 

Btw... nice shots.

Apparently it's true. Touching the plant causes the touched cells to release a powerful hormone, which is transported to nearby cells and causes them to rapidly elongate. The result is bending around the spot which is touched, effectively "grabbing" stuff.

 

...awesome.

Ah! Just yesterday I was reading about Carnivorous / Insectivorous Plants...

 

While we're on the topic, does anyone here know exatly how an adaptation like this would begin? Was there insuficient nutrients in the soil or something? ... it's a pretty bewildering acheivement for nature.

There are likely multiple theories and also multiple paths taken toward carnivorousness in plants. Long story short, some plants somehow at some time began ingesting organisms and ultimately survived in a new niche and continued reproducing.