Surely many have heard about flowers eating animals and insects. Today, science knows about several hundred such plants. To characterize them, terms such as “carnivorous flowers” or simply “predatory plants” are used. Most of them feed on small insects, but there are specimens that can even digest a frog.
There are also house plants that feed on insects. Fans of predatory flowers claim that their pet works well against mosquitoes and flies, significantly reducing the population.
What are these plants and why did they become insectivores?
Such flowers can be found on all continents except Antarctica. Most of them are herbaceous perennial plants. They belong to two families– Bubbly and Sundew. Plant predators are also found in the countries of the CIS. Some of them, for example, Alpine butterfly, are listed in the Red Book of their countries.
These plants feed on insects steel in the process of evolution. Most of them settle on poor soils where there is a lack of nitrogen and other vital substances. Thus, by eating insects, they receive the necessary nutrition. In the process of evolution, the ability to digest animal protein was developed, and the flowers themselves acquired a lot of qualities that could attract attention. Many of these plants have a smell that insects associate with honey nectar, and they use the peculiar color of leaves and flowers as a distracting maneuver.
There are predators whose inflorescence grows in the form of a water lily. It collects water like a cup when it rains, and remains in excellent shape for a long time. Attracted by the opportunity to drink water, the unfortunate insects land on the petal and slide down to the bottom of the bowl. After the victim drowns, the plant's juice enters the process, which in its action resembles gastric juice.
The process of catching a gullible insect as follows. As soon as a bee or butterfly lands on the petals, the hairs with enzymes enter into the hunting process. The structure of the petal has a lot of traps that can reliably hold an insect and it is almost impossible to escape from the bait. Special enzymes containing poison kill the victim, and the juices from his body flow into the plant tissue. All that remains of the insect is its chitinous shell, which cannot be digested.
However, protein food for predators is only a source of microelements missing in the soil, because photosynthesis remains the main nutrition.
Carnivorous plants
There are about one hundred thousand plants that eat insects in the world. Let's look at the most famous of them.
Genlisey
Genlisea's habitat is South America and Africa. The herbaceous plant has traps in the form of a spiral. Thanks to the fibers inside the trap, the insect is held for further absorption. It is noteworthy that only those leaves that grow below, along the surface of the earth, are carnivorous. They feed on small insects and simple microorganisms, acting as roots, while the upper leaves are absolutely safe.
Darlingtonia
An unusual insectivorous plant in the form of a bulb. In the process of evolution, it formed sharp petals in the form of animal fangs. For hunting, Darlingtonia uses a special claw. Outwardly, it looks like an asymmetrical flower with fibers inside. An insidious predator uses its color to lure its prey, which confuses the insect with the help of bright spots located on the surface.
Insectivorous plants with water lily traps
- Nepenthes.
- Cephalotus saccular.
- Sarracenia.
Nepenthes
It, like many insectivorous plants, has petals in the form of a water lily. There are at least one hundred and twenty species of this plant. Some of them are quite large and can even eat small mammals, such as mice. Nepenthes is widespread in Asia, Australia and India. Monkeys use this flower as a source of water. This is why the aborigines nicknamed Nepenthes “monkey bowl”. It grows in the form of a vine with a small root system.
Bucket-shaped flowers always contain water. Insects that land on a water lily simply drown in it, and then the gastric juice of the plant enters the process.
Cephalotus saccular
Large strong water lilies with teeth at the edges they attract insects with the help of a specific smell. The surface of the water lilies itself is smooth and the victim easily slips to the bottom of the inflorescence, from which it is no longer possible to get out. Most often, large tropical ants become victims.
Sarracenia
It can only be found in the northern USA and Canada. The carnivorous Sarracenia catches its prey using water lily-shaped inflorescences. Digestive juice is formed on the petals, which are reliably protected from moisture. It attracts insects with its specific smell, reminiscent of nectar. Sat on the surface petal, the victim is paralyzed by the instantly released narcotic poison.
Insectivorous plants that live in water
- Suction bubble.
- Bubble Aldrovanda.
These predators prefer to live in swampy areas where there is plenty of food for them in the form of mosquitoes and swamp flies.
Suction bubble
This insectivorous plant can be found in many parts of our planet. It is absent, perhaps, only in the Far North. With the power of bubbles, which are hollow inside, the bubble sucks in its victim. Since the plant lives in water, water fleas and tadpoles become its prey. The process of catching prey is very fast and efficient. A small vacuum cleaner tries to suck up everything that floats past with water, and then releases it, leaving everything you need for yourself.
Bubbly Aldrovanda
Lives in water, and prefers swampy areas where there are many insects and tadpoles . Thread-like stems, located in the water, form dense growth. The bristles are elongated, and the crustacean plates have swellings. Thanks to these swellings, Aldrovanda senses the victim and instantly collapses it. The digestion process takes longer, at the end of which only the shell remains of the insect.
Most predator plants prefer to catch their victims using a sticky surface.
Sticky fat woman
Its method of catching is similar to sticky tape, which until recently was used in every home against flies. Zhiryanka leaves have a pleasant pink color, and in places, bright green color. With the help of cells capable of digesting animal food, the plant attracts insects, since the smell emanating from the trunk reminds them of nectar. Having sat down on a sticky surface, the victim can no longer fly up and becomes food for the flower. There are species that go into hibernation and hide in a dense rosette throughout the winter months.
Byblis rainbow
Externally, this Australian predator looks like a sundew, but in fact the plant is a special type of carnivorous flora. The rounded leaves have hairs that secrete a pink mucus that is very aggressive. Cute flowers are painted in all the colors of the rainbow, and inside the inflorescence there are large stamens. After the victim sits on the flower, it sticks tightly to it.
Venus flytrap
A small insectivorous plant with a thick stem and pretty white flowers, it is happily bred in home greenhouses. It has no more than four leaves on each stem. The prey, falling on the predator's leaf, slams into the trap, after which gastric juice enters the process. The leaves flatten and thicken, increasing in volume. If the victim is large, then it takes at least a week to digest it. The bait, like many predators, is the mucus secreted by the leaf.
A small plant with thin sticky leaves are considered a real glutton among other plant predators. In one day, Lusitanian Rosolite can catch and digest up to thirty large insects. He lures them with the help of a sweet sticky mass secreted on the surface of the leaf.
Insectivorous plants in the house
Recently, among fans of home vegetation, growing insectivorous flowers at home has become very popular. You won’t surprise anyone with something as exotic as the Venus flytrap or Sarracenia. People are attracted to everything bright, unusual and dangerous. Some people keep predatory animals or poisonous reptiles, while others prefer piranhas among all the inhabitants of the aquarium. Flower growers are not lagging behind.
What does it take for a plant to be a predator? I felt great in a city apartment.
Not all plants rely solely on nutrients from the air and soil. Among them there are also carnivorous plants that eat insects, small crustaceans, and even fish fry...it happens that a person becomes a victim of a plant. Carnivorous plants live in unusual conditions: in the desert, in high bogs, wet rocks, marshy meadows - on poor soil poor in nutrients. That’s why they developed the ability to assimilate living protein food, snatching it literally out of thin air.
They have not lost the ability to feed on inorganic substances coming from the soil and air. Simply, life on soil poor in nitrogenous salts and other minerals forced them to look for additional sources of food. Many predator plants live in swamps and swamps, and at the expense of captured victims they make up for their lack of nitrogen. Carnivorous plants are able to live without protein food, but this makes them very stunted.
Predatory, or carnivorous, insectivorous plants catch victims using special trap leaves. All carnivorous plants have beautiful flowers and brightly colored leaves. Insects fly for nectar and fall into a trap. When insects fall for the bait, they either stick to a leaf with sticky glandular hairs, or they find themselves caught in the leaves in the form of special traps. The victim's body is digested with the help of special enzymes or destroyed by organic acids secreted by plants.
Predatory plants are divided into three groups based on their trap organs. These are plants with moving trap organs (sundew, butterwort, flycatcher); with sticky sticky leaves (rosolist, growing in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco); with bubbles, jugs and “catching pits” in the form of tubes (pemphigus, nepenthes, saracenia).
Insectivores are perennial herbaceous plants; there are not very many species of them, only about 500. Some soil fungi are also predators. They are found in all ecosystems in different parts of the world, growing in soil and water. As a rule, these plants are inhabitants of areas with warm, temperate and tropical climates; they love the sun. More famous to us are sundew and butterfly - inhabitants of peat bogs.
Giant carnivorous plants
In the tropical jungles of Madagascar you can find giant carnivorous plants. The natives talk about a tree that can eat a person. The German naturalist K. Lihe witnessed how “a palm tree with a thick trunk in the shape of a pineapple and about 2.5 meters high” ate a woman. The scientist saw a ritual of sacrifice to this tree.
After the ritual dance, a young woman was brought to the tree, she climbed up the trunk and began to lick the juice from two huge leaves in the shape of open palms until she fell into a trance. Then the two-meter vines began to close around her. Gradually the leaves-palms shrank. The girl screamed. After 10 days, Lihe found only the bones of the victim under this tree.
According to scientists, several million years ago predator plants were larger. Their growth has decreased as a result of climate change. Since the climate has changed less in the equatorial tropical zones, the ancestors of carnivorous plants should be looked for there.
In the middle of the 20th century, the German scientist K. Schwimmer went on an expedition to check rumors about a monster devouring people in Northern Rhodesia (Central Africa). The search for the monster ended with the discovery of a man-eating tree. Arriving at the source of the spicy, intoxicating smell, the expedition members saw a grove of trees, the lush crown of which was supported by thick shoots.
Under the tree, Schwimmer found many bones. With slaps in the face, he brought his companions, intoxicated by the narcotic smell, to their senses. The travelers plugged their nostrils with chewing gum and conducted an experiment. They shot the vulture and threw it into a tree. The vines immediately wrapped themselves around the bird. As soon as the researchers walked away a little, they heard a chilling scream: the Negro porter had become prey to the tree. It was impossible to save him. Hearing from Schwimmer about what had happened, the tribal leader ordered the terrible plant to be burned.
1970 - naturalists from Brazil saw a palm-like tree feeding on monkeys and sloths.
The so-called “Tree of Justice” was discovered in the forests of Central America. It got its name from the Goboro tribe. According to the tribal leader, those suspected of murder or theft are handed over to the tree for trial: it releases the innocent, but sucks the blood from the criminals.
It was a tree with two trunks growing 1 meter apart and with long vines. According to eyewitnesses, they actually wrapped her around, but immediately released the girl, who decided to test the leader’s words in practice. It can be assumed that the tree reacts to substances that are released from fear by a criminal placed between the tree trunks.
Vampire mushrooms
The powerful impact of radiation on nature, caused by the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, led to the appearance of monstrous mushrooms in the forests of the Kyiv, Gomel and Bryansk regions. These vampire mushrooms secrete a sticky substance to which insects stick. Then the fungus grows into the victim’s body with a thin tube and sucks out its contents. Other mushrooms, “rocket launchers,” shoot a spore at an insect, the spore germinates in the body of the victim, kills it and gives life to a new mushroom.
Sundew
Sundew is so called because droplets of sticky mucus glisten on it, which look like dew or droplets of honey. The sundew itself is colored red and green. The leaves of this small insectivorous plant are covered with 25 cilia on the upper side of the leaf blade and along the edges where the longest ones are located. The upper end of the cilia is thickened. It is there that the gland is located, which secretes sticky mucus. Insects fly to the predatory sundew, attracted by the shine of this droplet. But as soon as they touch the fox, they stick. Soon, after 10 or 20 minutes, the eyelash to which the victim is stuck will bend towards the center of the leaf. All neighboring eyelashes will also bend.
Afterwards, the edge of the leaf blade will bend and the trap will close. If there is a substance that does not contain protein on the eyelashes, for example a drop of rain, they will not move. Enzymes secreted by the cilia break down protein (dewdew enzymes are similar to pepsin, the gastric juice of animals). After the predator has had lunch, the cilia straighten, become covered with “dew” again and attract new flies. Sometimes the digestive process lasts for several days. The South African royal sundew, a plant half a meter tall, can even digest snails and frogs.
Zhiryanka
The green leaves of butterwort are much larger than the leaves of sundew. They are covered with mucus and this makes them appear greasy. If you examine a section of a leaf under a microscope, you can see two types of glands: some are like mushrooms with caps, others are just caps without legs. On one square centimeter of a butterwort leaf there are up to 25 thousand glands. When an insect adheres to a leaf and causes irritation, the plant immediately secretes digestive juices. The butterwort eats insects even faster than the sundew: it only takes a day.
Pemphigus
The most complex traps in design are those of bladderworts. These are plants without roots. They are rarely found larger than 2 mm in diameter. The bladderwort, which lives in swamp water, catches and eats insect larvae, fry and crustaceans. The leaves of the predator float in the water, and a stem with large yellow flowers is visible above the water. Its heavily dissected leaf was transformed during development, so some of its parts became hollow bubbles.
Each such bubble has its own mouth, framed by hard bristles. The inner lining of the trap is covered with hairs that constantly absorb liquid, therefore creating negative pressure in the cavity. As soon as the valve opens, water enters the bubble along with the victim. It is impossible to get out of the bubble. Its walls inside cover the digestive glands. When a crustacean or fry dies in a trap and decomposes, the plant “digests” its remains.
It has long been known that sundews and butterworts produce a protein-digesting enzyme. People use this feature when cleaning clay jugs from milk residues. They are evaporated with a decoction of sundew leaves, which decomposes the milk protein even in the pores of earthenware.
There are gardeners who grow these carnivorous plants at home. “Predators” are dug out along with peat moss, “settled” in a terrarium, and covered with glass on top so that the plant has enough moisture. The owners of predator plants have to catch flies for them to feed; some manage to feed them pieces of meat and cottage cheese.
Saracenia purpurea
Saracenia purpurea is widespread, in which the leaf petiole has turned into a tube, and the leaf blade has turned into a cap above it. Even when Saracenia is not in bloom, its emerald-crimson or yellow-red leaves attract midges. Small Saracenia and Californian Darlingtonia have another trick for insects: the canopies over the traps are translucent, the insect mistakes the gap for an exit, takes off, hits the wall and falls into the liquid.
The insects drown in the liquid, are digested, and then the remains are absorbed by the walls of the tube. The most favorite food of this plant is cockroaches and flies. The Saraceniaceae family includes 10 species of Saracenia, Darlingtonia californica and six species of Heliamphora. Their habitat is swamps in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions in southern North America and northeastern South America.
Venus flytrap
Near Wilmington, North Carolina, a Venus flytrap grows in peat bogs. Its leaves are a kind of trap. Each of them is divided into two parts, the lower part extracts nutrients from the air, and the upper part catches insects. The two movable lobes of the locking leaf have sharp teeth, and each of them has three long elastic bristles.
As soon as a fly or mosquito touches the bristles, the lobes quickly slam shut and clamp the insect. Resistance will only strengthen the grip of the predatory plant. The victim breaks out, and the leaf segments squeeze it more and more tightly. Then small red glands begin to secrete sour, clear juice. In 1–3 weeks, the flycatcher eats the insect, and its lobules return to their previous position. After two or three meals, the leaf dies. Why is this Venus flytrap? They say that it was given this name because the trap leaves are shaped like sea shells, which have long been considered a symbol of the feminine.
An experiment with a plant showed that if you touch the bristles with a stick, the trap slams shut, but when it discovers that there is no food in it, the plant opens again. It reacts even if the victim weighs only 0.0008 milligrams. It is curious that the trap slams shut only when the victim touches two or more hairs. If only one bristle is disturbed, the trap will not work. So some lucky ones manage to carefully crawl towards the nectar and enjoy it.
Aldrovanda
Using the same principle as the Venus flytrap, the underwater plant aldrovanda from the sundew family catches its prey.
The favorite delicacy of orangutans is digestive juice from large pitchers of Nepenthes (a genus of insectivorous plants, part of the petiole of which is turned into a pitcher). It tastes sour and is very refreshing in the heat.
Nepenthes - bushy vines
Under the forest canopy in the tropics of Madagascar, South Asia and Indonesia, New Guinea, Northern Australia, the Seychelles, bizarre nepenthes - bush-like vines - grow in warm and humid jungles.
This carnivorous plant uses another plant instead of support, developing on it. Thus, trees and shrubs growing nearby are entwined with petioles of nepenthes leaves, and blue, red, and green pitchers, which are the “hunting organs” of the plant, hang between the branches. Having evolved, the nepenthes leaf turned into a brightly colored jug with a lid, and its middle part into a tendril. The length of jug traps in different species ranges from 4 to 60 cm.
These insectivores catch insects passively. In some of these plants, the jug holds up to one liter of liquid, so not only large insects, but even small birds can get into it. In addition to its bright color, insects are attracted to Nepenthes by its fragrant nectar. It stands out along the edge of the jug and looks like a smooth waxy coating. The victim sits on the jug, then gradually moves onto its inner side, which is slippery due to plaque, and slides down it to the bottom, into the viscous liquid.
The coarse hairs inside the jug prevent her from getting to the top. These sharp hairs are directed downward, which allows the caught victim to easily slide to the bottom, but makes it difficult to escape from the jug. After 5–7 hours, the Nepenthes prey is digested. The stomach jugs work all the time. These vines are also called “hunting cups”: you can drink clean water from them, although only from the top, because there are undigested insects at the bottom. Giant Nepenthes grow on the island of Borneo; pigeons, other birds, and small animals sometimes get into their pitchers.
Giant Byblis
Residents of Australia have found good use for the leaves of another famous carnivorous plant - the giant biblis. The narrow leaves of this low shrub secrete a substance with such a strong adhesive effect that at times frogs and small birds stick to them. Australians use this substance as glue.
10 Amazing Carnivorous Plants
Among all the strange plants in the world, there are even some that eat flesh.
Well, maybe not exactly flesh, but insects, but, nevertheless, they are considered carnivores. All carnivorous plants are found in places where the soil is poor in nutrients.
These amazing plants are carnivorous, as they capture insects and arthropods, secrete digestive juices, dissolve their prey, and obtain some or most of the nutrients in the process.
Here are the most famous carnivorous plants that use different types of traps to lure their prey.
1. Sarracenia (Sarracenia)
Sarracenia or North American carnivorous plant is a genus of carnivorous plants that are found in areas of the east coast of North America, Texas, the Great Lakes, southeastern Canada, but most are found only in the southeastern states.
This plant uses water lily-shaped trapping leaves as a trap. The plant's leaves have become a funnel with a hood-like structure that grows over the hole, preventing rainwater from entering, which could dilute the digestive juices.
Insects are attracted to the color, smell and nectar-like secretions at the edge of the water lily. The slippery surface and narcotic substance lining the nectar cause insects to fall inside, where they die and are digested by protease and other enzymes.
2. Nepenthes (Nepenthes)
Nepenthes, a tropical carnivorous plant, is another type of carnivorous trap plant that uses trapping leaves in the shape of a pitcher.
There are about 130 species of these plants, which are widespread in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Madagascar, Seychelles, Australia, India, Borneo and Sumatra. This plant also earned the nickname "monkey cup" because researchers often observed monkeys drinking rainwater from it.
Most Nepenthes species are tall vines, about 10-15 meters, with a shallow root system. The stem often reveals leaves with a tendril that protrudes from the tip of the leaf and is often used for climbing. At the end of the tendril, the water lily forms a small vessel, which then expands and forms a cup.
The trap contains a liquid secreted by the plant, which may be watery or sticky, in which the insects that the plant eats drown. The bottom of the cup contains glands that absorb and distribute nutrients.
Most plants are small and they only catch insects, but large species such as Nepenthes Rafflesiana And Nepenthes Rajah, can catch small mammals such as rats.
3. Genliseya (Genlisea)
Composed of 21 species, Genlisea typically grows in moist terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments and is distributed in Africa and Central and South America.
Genlisea are small herbs with yellow flowers that use a crab claw type trap. These traps are easy to get into, but impossible to get out of because of the small hairs that grow towards the entrance or, in this case, forward in a spiral.
These plants have two different types of leaves: photosynthetic leaves above ground and specialized underground leaves that lure, trap and digest small organisms such as protozoa. The underground leaves also serve as roots, such as water absorption and anchorage, since the plant itself does not have any.
These underground leaves form hollow tubes underground that look like a spiral. Small microbes are drawn into these tubes by the flow of water, but cannot escape from them. By the time they reach the exit, they will already be digested.
4. Darlingtonia californica (Darlingtonia Californica)
Darlingtonia californica is the only member of the Darlingtonia genus that grows in northern California and Oregon. It grows in swamps and springs with cold running water and is considered a rare plant.
Darlingtonia leaves are bulbous in shape and form a cavity with an opening underneath a balloon-like structure and two sharp leaves that hang down like fangs.
Unlike many carnivorous plants, it does not use trap leaves to trap them, but instead uses a crab claw type trap. Once the insect is inside, they are confused by the specks of light that pass through the plant.
They land in thousands of thick, fine hairs that grow inward. Insects can follow the hairs deep into the digestive organs, but cannot return back.
5. Pemphigus (Utricularia)
Bladderwort is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of 220 species. They are found in fresh water or moist soil as terrestrial or aquatic species on all continents except Antarctica.
These are the only carnivorous plants that use a bubble trap. Most species have very small traps in which they can catch very small prey such as protozoans.
Traps range from 0.2 mm to 1.2 cm, and larger traps catch larger prey such as water fleas or tadpoles.
The bubbles are under negative pressure relative to the surrounding stop. The trap's opening opens, sucks in the insect and surrounding water, closes the valve, and all this happens in thousandths of seconds.
6. Zhiryanka (Pinguicula)
Butterweed belongs to a group of carnivorous plants that use sticky, glandular leaves to lure and digest insects. Nutrients from insects supplement mineral-poor soil. There are approximately 80 species of these plants in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
Butterwort leaves are succulent and usually bright green or pink in color. There are two special types of cells found on the upper side of leaves. One is known as the pedicel gland and consists of secretory cells located at the top of a single stem cell.
These cells produce a mucous secretion that forms visible droplets on the surface of the leaves and acts like Velcro. Other cells are called sessile glands, and they are found on the surface of the leaf, producing enzymes such as amylase, protease and esterase, which aid in the digestive process.
While many butterwort species are carnivorous all year, many types form a dense winter rosette that is not carnivorous. When summer comes, it blooms and produces new carnivorous leaves.
7. Sundew (Drosera)
Sundews constitute one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species.
They are found on all continents except Antarctica. Sundews can form basal or vertical rosettes from 1cm to 1m in height and can live up to 50 years.
Sundews are characterized by moving glandular tentacles topped with a sweet, sticky secretion.
When an insect lands on the sticky tentacles, the plant begins to move the remaining tentacles in the direction of the victim in order to further trap it.
Once the insect is trapped, small sessile glands absorb it and the nutrients are used for plant growth.
8. Byblis (Byblis)
Byblis or rainbow plant is a small species of carnivorous plant native to Australia. The rainbow plant gets its name from the attractive slime that coats its leaves in the sun.
Although these plants are similar to sundews, they are in no way related to the latter and are distinguished by zygomorphic flowers with five curved stamens.
Its leaves have a round cross-section, and most often they are elongated and conical at the end.
The surface of the leaves is completely covered with glandular hairs, which secrete a sticky mucous substance that serves as a trap for small insects that land on the leaves or tentacles of the plant.
9. Aldrovanda vesica (Aldrovanda vesiculosa)
Aldrovanda vesica is a magnificent rootless, carnivorous aquatic plant. It typically feeds on small aquatic vertebrates using a snare trap.
The plant consists mainly of free-floating stems that reach 6-11 cm in length. Trap leaves, 2-3 mm in size, grow in 5-9 curls in the center of the stem. The traps are attached to the petioles, which contain air that allows the plant to float.
It is a fast growing plant and can reach 4-9mm per day and in some cases produce a new whorl every day. While the plant grows at one end, the other end gradually dies.
The plant trap consists of two lobes that slam shut like a trap. The trap's openings point outward and are covered with fine hairs that allow the trap to close around any prey that comes close enough.
The trap slams shut in tens of milliseconds, one of the fastest examples of movement in the animal kingdom.
10. Venus flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula)
The Venus flytrap is perhaps the most famous carnivorous plant, feeding primarily on insects and arachnids. It is a small plant with 4-7 leaves that grow from a short underground stem.
Its leaf blade is divided into two areas: flat, long, heart-shaped petioles capable of photosynthesis and a pair of terminal lobes hanging from the main vein of the leaf, which form a trap.
The inner surface of these lobes contains red pigment, and the edges secrete mucus.
The leaf lobes make a sudden movement, slamming shut when its sensory hairs are stimulated. The plant is so advanced that it can distinguish a living stimulus from a nonliving one.
Its leaves slam shut in 0.1 second. They are lined with thorn-like cilia that hold prey.
Once the prey is caught, the inner surface of the leaves is gradually stimulated, and the edges of the lobes grow and merge, closing the trap and creating a closed stomach, where the prey is digested.
From here: http://www.infoniac.ru
Insectivorous plants - popular species, care
Plants that are capable of catching and eating insects and small animals are of extreme interest and surprise. And lovers of indoor flowers definitely try to purchase these flowers in their collections.
In nature, predator plants are found on almost all continents. They belong to 19 different families. Currently, about 630 species of these amazing creatures have been described. Most of them come from tropical areas, but there are species that feel quite comfortable in cooler regions.
So, even in the swamps near Moscow you can find round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), A American purple sarracenia (Sarracenia purpurea) has long settled in England and Ireland.
The first descriptions of plants capable of feeding themselves by hunting appeared in the 18th century. They were compiled by the English naturalist John Ellis. The discovery was so unexpected that even many scientists of that time perceived the information with distrust.
Cunning traps
In the 19th century, green predators attracted the attention of Charles Darwin. He spent 15 years studying in detail and conducting various experiments with these plants. The result of his work was the book “Insectivorous Plants.”
How did it happen that plants, creatures from which such behavior would be the last thing to be expected, learned to eat?
This ability was developed in them in the process of evolution, in response to unfavorable living conditions.
They all have one thing in common - they are forced to grow in marshy soils that are extremely poor in nutrients. It is extremely difficult to survive in such conditions, but these species did it. Their leaves have turned into ingenious traps that lure “game” by smell, sweet nectar or bright color. Trap leaves vary greatly in shape and method of catching prey, but the result is almost always the same - a frivolous prey that sits down to feast on nectar on a “flower” becomes dinner itself.
So, sundews (Drosera) catch small insects using sticky baits. Tropical beauties Nepenthes grow jugs filled with digestive juices. Outwardly, they resemble bright exotic flowers, and in some species they can reach a length of 50 cm and hold up to 2 liters of liquid. Such a “flower” is capable of digesting not only insects, but even small animals that accidentally get inside.
Green jaws
But the collapsing green “jaws” look especially impressive. Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Its traps are equipped with sensitive hairs located on the inside. If they are touched, a special “closing” mechanism is triggered. Moreover, the Venus flytrap can distinguish its prey. If something inedible (for example, a blade of grass) gets into its teeth, the trap opens again and waits for its happy hour.
This trinity: sundew (Drosera), Nepenthes and Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) - It's easy to find on sale now. Growing them is not so easy; in unsuitable conditions they will not live long, so before purchasing you should thoroughly prepare and evaluate your capabilities.
Terrarium
Small species such as sundew or Venus flytrap, it is better to place it in a terrarium. For large plants such as nepenthes, it would be a good idea to purchase an air humidifier or place a tray of pebbles filled with water next to them. At the same time, heat combined with constant high humidity can cause fungal infections.
All green predators are light-loving, but they need to be shaded from direct sunlight. Insectivorous plants require very high air humidity. If kept too dry, they are easily affected by aphids and mealybugs.
To reduce the risk of disease, plants need to be provided with fresh air. Cold drafts should be avoided, especially in autumn and winter. It is also necessary to promptly remove wilted leaves and flowers.
Watering and fertilizing mode
It is very important to maintain the correct watering and fertilizing regime. The root system of these plants is very sensitive to flooding and lack of moisture. The soil in the pot should be constantly moist, but stagnation of water should be avoided.
For irrigation, use only soft water that does not contain calcium salts. Regular fertilizers for indoor flowers are not suitable for these plants. They receive additional nutrition from live food, and the rule here is: it is better to underfeed than to overfeed.
Don't give your little predators pieces of food from your table. They will catch everything they need themselves. Traps that catch prey beyond their strength cannot digest it, they turn black and rot. Such leaves have to be removed.
Avoid touching trap leaves frequently. sundews And Venus flytraps. Of course, watching their reactions is incredibly interesting, but they can be accidentally damaged. Such a leaf will dry out, which will also not add attractiveness to the plant.
Transfer
Insectivorous plants are replanted every two years. To do this, use a substrate consisting of a mixture of peat or coconut, sphagnum and perlite. The pot shouldn't be too big. Temperature requirements vary among species. So, nepenthes need warm maintenance throughout the year. Temperatures below +15°C are destructive for them. Sundews And Venus flytraps In winter, a period of rest at low temperatures is needed. The optimal regime for wintering them is +10... 12°C.
