Wander Lord

Interesting on art, nature, people, history

Green predators – carnivorous plants

Green predators - carnivorous plants

Green predators – carnivorous plants


The first flowering plants blossomed in the midst of the era of the dinosaurs – 140 million years ago. Probably you think that plants are delicate and harmless. But there are different plants that feed on insects, and each one seems to be as clever and as cruel as any animal that goes hunting for its food. Carnivorous plants have the subject of some captivating tales of science fiction, involving fantastic trees that consume large, unwary creatures in tropical forests. Most carnivorous plants grow in acidic bogs, unproductive lakes, or sandy soils. These are all habitats that are poor in the nutrients that plants require for growth. Most species of carnivorous plants are rare, and many are endangered.

Venus’s-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) grows in certain parts of North and South Carolina. This plant is the most business-like insect eater of all. When a fly touches the hairs that grow along the leaf, the plant snaps it shut like a trap. After the fly is digested by juices in the plant, it opens up again.

Venus’s-flytrap

Venus’s-flytrap

Venus’s-flytrap

Venus’s-flytrap


Pitcher plant grows in Borneo and tropical Asia. This plant has a red- colored rim and cover. It gives out a sweet juice that attracts insects. The insect comes to drink the nectar, climbs over the rim of the plant, which is shaped like a pitcher. The inside of the pitcher is so smooth that the insect slides down and cannot stop itself. At the bottom, there is a bath of powerful liquid waiting for it. The insect is drowned and the liquid goes to work and digests the insect, thus providing food for the plant.
Pitcher plant

Pitcher plant


The Sundew is another tricky insect-eating plant. The upper part of each leaf is covered with little hairlike projections which give out a stick fluid that attracts insects. This fluid looks like dewdrops. The moment an insect touches one of these hairs, it is stuck. Then all the other hairs start to bend toward the center of the leaf until they have wrapped up the insect in a neat package. The fluid starts digesting poor victim.
Sundew

Sundew

Green predators – carnivorous plants

Sundew

Sundew


Sarracenia leucophilla (Sarracenia drummondii) can be called the most passive predator. It can eat even small mammals: rodents, birds, and frogs.
Sarracenia leucophilla

Sarracenia leucophilla


Darlingtonia californica’s top of the leaf looks like cobra’s hood that’s why it is also called Cobra Plant. It’s one of the strangest plants in the world.
Darlingtonia californica

Darlingtonia californica


Pinguicula vulgaris. Its leaves are covered with numerous glands secreting a sticky clear liquid that attracts insects.
Pinguicula vulgaris

Pinguicula vulgaris