The most carnivorous plant in the world. Who is he - a flower that eats flies

plant predators- these are one of the most unusual representatives of the flora of our planet, one might say, a miracle of the natural world.

It is common to hear about animals that feed on other living beings, but the fact that creatures that are incapable of movement and any active interaction with their environment can also devour someone will seem incredible to many.

They are different from other plants and live in unbearable conditions for most green creatures, which is why they have to be predators.

Why do they do it?

The reason why carnivorous plants appeared is simple. They should receive the bulk of nutrients with the help of roots from the soil in which they are located, but due to the fact that in many parts of the world there is such a soil in which there are practically no substances necessary for the normal life of most plants, they had to adapt and get them by eating other creatures. Only in this way do they receive the components necessary for life.

These plants can eat not only insects, but also arthropods. They have a digestive system, just like animals. Now scientists know more than 600 species of carnivorous plants. Each of them has its own diet and its own methods of catching prey. Besides, they have various ways of luring victims and peculiar traps.

In addition to unusual abilities, these plants for the most part have a very beautiful and bright color, and many have a strong smell. Among this diversity, one can single out the most famous representatives of the predatory flora.

Types of carnivorous plants

1. This is a fairly rare plant that vivo grows in the south North America, for which it is also called California. Her habitat- reservoirs with running and cool water. And she lives under water.

   This underwater predator feeds various insects, small crustaceans and other river animals.

   Their way of catching is quite peculiar.- she does not use her leaves directly, the victim is trapped through a crab claw, this is an asymmetric process, a kind of mini-maze. Once inside, the insect has no chance.

   Darlingtonia affects him bright colors the inside of the trap, which leads to complete disorientation in space and further death.




2. In this case, the name speaks for itself. It can be called one of the most common and famous representatives carnivorous plants.

   Flycatchers feed on insects and arachnids. It is able to distinguish a living organism from a non-living one.

   Catching prey occurs as follows: The flycatcher has two leaves, which, when the victim hits them, instantly collapse and close, but if the insect reacts quickly, then there is an opportunity to get out.

   The edges of the trap-like trap gradually begin to grow together. Digestion of prey takes place inside this peculiar stomach. Moreover, despite its danger, the flower has a very pleasant smell, thanks to which it attracts greedy insects. The picturesque appearance of toothy trap leaves makes it a fairly popular room decoration.




ATTENTION: The feeding of the Venus flytrap is a spectacular process, but it is impossible to overfeed the flower, because after the prey is digested, the leaf dies off, and due to the loss of leaves, it may weaken or even die.

3. . This plant lives in Asia, its home is tropical forests. Nepenthes are classified as bushy vines. They catch the victim due to the pitcher-shaped appendages on the leaves, in which there is a viscous juice, where the victim drowns, and further gives its nutritional components to the plant.

   The edges of the jars, smeared with wax, trimmed with bristles or spines, do not allow getting out of the tank, and the bright color of its inner side attracts the attention of potential prey.

   There are many varieties of Nepenthes, the smallest of them prey purely on insects, but large representatives of the genus can also absorb small mammals, for example, mice, their jugs are the size of a bottle and can hold up to a liter of digestive fluid.

   Traps differ not only in size, but also in the shape of jugs, in some Nepenthes they lie on the ground, in others they hang from the leaves, like outlandish fruits.




4. It grows in the far east of Russia and therefore tolerates cold well. Rosyanka is small in size and preys on insects mainly during the pollination period of the flower, although it does not disdain small insects that simply accidentally fall on the leaves.

   Its leaves are collected in a dense rosette and have movable tentacles with sweet nectar.

   When the victim sits down to enjoy the juice, he falls into the trap, tightly sticking to the droplets at the ends of these tentacles.

   The nutrients contained in the body of the ingested insect are needed by the flower in order to form an ovary and allow the seeds to ripen.

   It is worth noting that Rosyanka is used for medicinal purposes and often grows on windowsills as an exotic pet.




ATTENTION: like any plant in a temperate climate, sundew needs a dormant period in winter. At this time, the pot with the plant should be sent to a cool and fairly dry place. Otherwise, it will deplete and die.

5. This North American endemic grows in swamps, like most other predators, but, unlike them, It also has decorative flowers with a pleasant smell.

   Its lower leaves resemble translucent scales, and the trap leaves are elongated into long tubes up to eighty centimeters high, speckled with protruding veins.

   From above, this pipe is covered by a leaf outgrowth that prevents water from flowing inside during rain - the Nepenthes jars are covered with a similar "umbrella".

   The bright color of the traps and the aroma of the secretions of the nectar-bearing glands beckon insects to certain death, but the larvae of blowflies and ossphexes are used to living inside the leaves of Sarracenia, taking part of the prey from the plant.

   It is important to note that Sarracenia is easy to care for and can grow in open ground where the winters are mild enough for her.

NOTE on domestic carnivorous plants: Darlingtonia Californian, Nepenthes, Sundew and many others.

Not being directly related to each other, many carnivorous plants, quite independently of each other, have developed the same methods of survival in adverse conditions, on lands poor in nitrogenous compounds, having learned to extract nutrients from other people's bodies. These extraordinary creatures will decorate any flower collection.

Why do the victims of these plants voluntarily climb into deadly traps? Cunning plants share their secrets.

The Venus flytrap closes the trap if you touch its tiny hairs twice.

A hungry fly is looking for something to profit from. Having smelled a smell similar to the aroma of nectar, she sits down on a fleshy red leaf - it seems to her that this is an ordinary flower. While the fly drinks the sweet liquid, it touches with its paw a tiny hair on the surface of the leaf, then another one ... And then walls grow around the fly. The jagged edges of the leaf close like jaws. The fly tries to escape, but the trap is tightly closed. Now, instead of nectar, the leaf secretes enzymes that dissolve the insides of the insect, gradually turning them into a sticky slurry. The fly suffered the greatest humiliation that can befall an animal: it was killed by a plant.

Tropical Nepenthes attracts insects with a sweet aroma, but as soon as the unlucky ones sit on its slippery rim, they immediately slip into its open maw.

Plants versus animals.

The swampy savanna, stretching for 140 kilometers around Wilmington (North Carolina, USA), is the only place on Earth where the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a native inhabitant. Other species of carnivorous plants are also found here - not so famous and not so rare, but no less amazing. For example, Nepenthes (Nepenthes) with jugs similar to champagne glasses, where insects (and sometimes larger animals) find their death. Or sundew (Drosera), clasping the victim with sticky hairs, and pemphigus (Utricularia), an underwater plant that sucks up prey like a vacuum cleaner.

Many predator plants (and there are more than 675 species) use passive traps. Zhiryanka bristles with sticky hairs that hold the insect while the digestive fluid works.

Plants that feed on animals cause us inexplicable anxiety. Probably, the fact is that such an order of things contradicts our ideas about the universe. The famous naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who in the 18th century created the system of classification of wildlife that we still use today, refused to believe that such a thing was possible. After all, if the Venus flytrap really devours insects, it violates the order of nature, instituted by God. Linnaeus believed that plants catch insects by chance, and if the unfortunate insect stops twitching, it will be released.

The Australian sundew attracts insects with dew-like droplets, and then clasps them with hairs.

Charles Darwin, on the contrary, was fascinated by the willful behavior of green predators. In 1860, shortly after the scientist first saw one of these plants (it was a sundew) on a moorland, he wrote: "The sundew interests me more than the origin of all species in the world."

The silhouettes of the caught insects, like shadow theater figures, look through the leaf of the Philippine nepenthes. The wax surface of the inner wall of the jar prevents insects from escaping, and the enzymes at its bottom extract nutrients from the victim.

Darwin spent more than one month experimenting. He planted flies on the leaves of carnivorous plants and watched them slowly compress the hairs around their prey; he even tossed pieces of gluttonous plants raw meat and egg yolk. And he found out: in order to cause a plant reaction, the weight of a human hair is enough.

Smelling the smell of food, the cockroach looks into the jug. Insectivores, like other plants, are engaged in photosynthesis, but most of them live in swamps and other places where the soil is poor in nutrients. The nitrogen they get from feeding on their prey helps them thrive in these difficult conditions.

“It seems to me that hardly anyone has ever observed a more amazing phenomenon in the plant kingdom,” the scientist wrote. At the same time, sundews paid absolutely no attention to drops of water, even if they fell from a great height. Responding to a false alarm in the rain, Darwin reasoned, would be a big mistake for a plant - so this is not an accident, but a natural adaptation.

Most predatory plants eat some insects, while others are forced to help them in reproduction. In order not to catch a potential pollinator for dinner, the sarracenia keep the flowers away from the trapping jars - on long stems.

Subsequently, Darwin studied other types of predatory plants, and in 1875 summarized the results of his observations and experiments in the book Insectivorous Plants. He was especially fascinated by the extraordinary speed and strength of the Venus flytrap, which he called one of the most amazing plants in the world. Darwin found that when a leaf closes its edges, it temporarily turns into a "stomach" that secretes enzymes that dissolve the prey.

Their buds hang down like Chinese lanterns, luring bees into intricately constructed pollen chambers.

In the course of long observations, Charles Darwin came to the conclusion that it takes more than a week for a predatory leaf to open again. Probably, he suggested, the teeth along the edges of the leaf do not converge completely, so that very small insects can escape, and the plant, thus, would not have to spend energy on low-nutrient food.

Some predatory plants, such as sundew, can pollinate themselves if volunteer insects are not found.

The lightning-fast reaction of the Venus flytrap - its trap slams shut in a tenth of a second - Darwin compared with the contraction of the animal's muscles. However, plants have neither muscles nor nerve endings. How do they manage to react exactly like animals?

If the sticky hair does not grab the big fly firmly enough, the insect, however crippled, will break free. In the world of predatory plants, says William McLaughlin, curator of the US Botanical Gardens, it also happens that insects die and "hunters" remain hungry.

Plant electricity.

Today, cell and DNA biologists are beginning to understand how these plants hunt, eat, and digest food—and most importantly, how they “learned” to do it. Alexander Volkov, a plant physiologist from Oakwood University (Alabama, USA), is convinced that after many years of research, he finally managed to uncover the secret of the Venus flytrap. When an insect touches a hair on the surface of a flycatcher leaf with its paw, a tiny electrical discharge is generated. The charge accumulates in the tissue of the leaf, but it is not enough for the slamming mechanism to work - this is insurance against false alarms. But more often than not, the insect touches another hair, adding a second to the first category, and the leaf closes.

On the South African royal sundew, the largest representative of the genus, a flower blooms. The leaves of this lush plant can reach half a meter in length.

Volkov's experiments show that the discharge travels down the fluid-filled tunnels that pierce the leaf, and this causes the pores in the cell walls to open. Water rushes from the cells located on the inner surface of the leaf to those located on its outer side, and the leaf quickly changes shape: from convex to concave. Two leaves collapse and the insect is trapped.

Tiny, thimble-sized, insectivorous plant of the genus Cephalotus from Western Australia prefers to feast on crawling insects. With guide hairs and an alluring smell, it lures ants into its digestive bowels.

The underwater pemphigus trap is no less ingenious. It pumps water out of the bubbles, lowering the pressure in them. When a water flea or some other small creature swims by and touches the hairs on the outer surface of the bubble, its cap opens, and low pressure draws water inside, and along with it, prey. In one five hundredth of a second, the lid closes again. The vesicle cells then pump out the water, restoring the vacuum in it.

The water-filled North American hybrid tempts bees with the promise of nectar and a headband that looks like the perfect landing pad. Eating meat is not the most efficient way for a plant to provide itself with the necessary substances, but, undoubtedly, one of the most extravagant.

Many other types of carnivorous plants resemble adhesive tape from flies: they grab prey with sticky hairs. Pitchers resort to a different strategy: they catch insects in long leaves- jugs. In the largest, the depth of the jugs reaches a third of a meter, and they can even digest some unlucky frog or rat.

The pitcher becomes a death trap thanks to chemicals. Nepenthes rafflesiana, for example, growing in the jungles of Kalimantan, secretes nectar, on the one hand, attracting insects, and on the other, forming a slippery film on which they cannot hold on. Insects that land on the rim of the jar slide in and fall into the viscous digestive fluid. They desperately move their paws, trying to free themselves, but the liquid pulls them to the bottom.

Many carnivorous plants have special glands that secrete enzymes strong enough to penetrate the hard chitinous shell of insects and get to the nutrients hiding underneath. But the purple sarracenia, found in swamps and poor sandy soils in North America, attracts other organisms to digest food.

Sarracenia helps to function a complex food web that includes mosquito larvae, small midges, protozoa and bacteria; many of them can only live in this environment. Animals crush prey falling into a jug, and smaller organisms use the fruits of their labors. Eventually, the Sarracenia absorb the nutrients released during this feast. “Thanks to the animals in this processing chain, all reactions are accelerated,” says Nicholas Gotelli of the University of Vermont. “When the digestive cycle is over, the plant pumps oxygen into the jar so that its inhabitants have something to breathe.”

Thousands of sarracenia grow in the swamps of Harvard Forest, owned by the university of the same name, in central Massachusetts. Aaron Ellison, chief forest ecologist, is working with Gotelli to find out what evolutionary reasons led flora to develop a meat-based diet.

Predatory plants clearly benefit from eating animals: the more flies researchers feed them, the better they grow. But how exactly are sacrifices useful? From them, predators obtain nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients in order to produce enzymes that capture light. In other words, eating animals allows predator plants to do what all members of the flora do: grow, receiving energy from the sun.

The work of green predators is not easy. They have to spend a huge amount of energy creating devices for catching animals: enzymes, pumps, sticky hairs and other things. Sarracenia or flycatcher cannot photosynthesize much because, unlike plants with ordinary leaves, their leaves do not solar panels capable of absorbing light in large quantities. Ellison and Gotelli believe that the benefits of a carnivorous life outweigh the costs of living it only under special conditions. The poor soil of swamps, for example, contains little nitrogen and phosphorus, so predator plants have an advantage there over their counterparts who extract these substances in more familiar ways. In addition, there is no lack of sun in the swamps, so even photosynthesisally inefficient predator plants capture enough light to survive.

Nature has more than once made such a compromise. Comparing the DNA of carnivorous and "ordinary" plants, scientists found that different groups of predators are not evolutionarily related to each other, but appeared independently of each other in at least six cases. Some predatory plants, outwardly similar, are only distantly related. Both the tropical genus Nepenthes and the North American Sarracenia have pitcher leaves and use the same strategy to catch prey, but come from different ancestors.

Bloodthirsty, but defenseless.

Unfortunately, the very properties that allow predator plants to thrive in difficult natural conditions make them extremely sensitive to changes in environmental conditions. environment. Many swamps in North America end up with excess nitrogen from nearby agricultural land fertilization and emissions from power plants. Predatory plants are so perfectly adapted to the low nitrogen content in the soil that they cannot cope with this unexpected "gift". “In the end, they just die from overexertion,” Allison says.

Another danger comes from people. The illegal trade in predator plants is so widespread that botanists try to keep secret the places where some rare species are found. Poachers are smuggling Venus flytraps out of North Carolina by the thousands and selling them from roadside stalls. The State Department of Agriculture has been tagging wild specimens for some time. safe paint, invisible in normal light, but flickering in ultraviolet rays, so that inspectors, when they find these plants for sale, can quickly determine where they come from - from a greenhouse or from a swamp.

Even if poaching can be stopped (which is also doubtful), predator plants will still suffer from many misfortunes. Their habitat is disappearing, giving way to shopping malls and residential areas. Forest fires are not allowed to run wild, which gives other plants the opportunity to grow quickly and win the rivalry with venus flytraps.

Flies, perhaps, are happy about this. But for those who admire the astonishing ingenuity of evolution, this is a great loss.

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Subtitles

Most plants get their food from the soil they grow on. But what about plants living in areas with insufficient nutrients? Evolution solved this problem and presented the world with amazing creatures - plants that turned their stems and leaves into deadly traps. They have learned to dissolve and assimilate the bodies of their victims, and most importantly, they have developed unique ways to lure prey. Predators in our garden, which have become a unique link in the food chain! These "green predators" live, as a rule, in places with a lack of nitrogen and mineral salts in the soil, and animal food is an excellent source of both. Meat-eating plants can eat in the same way as their non-carnivorous counterparts, but this makes them lethargic and shortens their life cycle. Today, more than six hundred species of carnivorous plants are known, divided into three groups: "insectivorous", whose prey is mainly insects; "water" - fishing for catching micro-crustaceans; and the eat-it-your-catch group, plants that have traps large enough to catch small animals. After a successful hunt, the caught game is digested by some kind of "gastric juice" that is produced by the special glands of the plant, or the caught creature dies and rots, and the plant absorbs the decomposition products. The only carnivorous plant whose process of catching insects can be seen with the naked eye is the cell plant - the Venus flytrap. Its leaves look like the mouth of an unknown monster. Each mouth is dotted with thorns-fangs, which act as lattices in the cage, when the leaf slams shut, the prey can no longer get out of it. In the case when the leaf slams shut empty, or something inedible gets into it, it will open itself within half an hour. If an insect is caught, the trap remains closed for several weeks until the food is completely absorbed. This "green monster" grows in a humid temperate climate on the Atlantic coast of the United States (Florida, North and South Carolina and New Jersey). The representative of insectivorous plants in Europe and the CIS countries is Rosyanka. Most often it can be found in the middle strip of Russia growing in swampy areas, in places poor in useful minerals - the so-called "acidic soils". In the summer, a blooming sundew can be recognized by small white flowers growing on a long stem-peduncle. The very same sundew, a rather inconspicuous marsh insectivorous grass with leaves lying on the ground, dotted with hairs. The liquid secreted by the hairs is very similar to dew, but in reality it is a glue that is deadly to insects, as well as an enzyme for digesting prey. The victim, attracted by the smell of this "pseudo-dew", sits on a leaf and sticks to it. The hairs press the unfortunate creature to the surface of the leaf, the enzyme begins the process of dissolving food, and the leaf itself, meanwhile, curls up, depriving the captive of the last chance of salvation. The remains, which the sundew has not digested, fall to the ground, after which the leaves take on their usual form, the hairs are covered with sticky “dew” beads and a new hunt begins. Some especially large species of sundew can catch even careless frogs and small birds. About 130 varieties of this plant are known to science. In conditions similar to the habitat of the sundew, you can meet another "green predator" - the sourdough. It looks like a rosette of large leaves tapering at the end, covered with a shiny sticky fat-like mass. During the flowering period, a stem with a purple flower grows from the center of the rosette. The principle of hunting and feeding zhiryanka strongly resembles sundew. Insects, attracted by the smell of "fat", stick to the leaf, which is wrapped inward, and the digestive secretions break down the prey. The resulting minerals and amino acids are absorbed by the plant, then the leaf unfolds and waits for the next batch of "guests". Darlingtonia also loves swampy terrain, and outwardly resembles a cobra, ready to throw. It is for its jugs, shaped like a snake's hood, that Darlingtonia received the nickname "Cobra plant". This is a truly insidious plant: it not only lures insects into its jug with a sweet aroma, but also has numerous false "exits" on its walls, pointing down and not allowing the victim to get out. But pemphigus is a predator plant whose habitat is stagnant water. Pemphigus is deprived of the usual roots for plants, which is why it preys on insects and small crustaceans. Trapping "bubbles" are located along with the leaves under water, only its flowers float on the surface. The "bubbles" have a certain "entrance", which opens as soon as an insect is nearby. The signal to open the "bubble" comes from the probe hairs located near the "entrance". When an insect catches a hair, the "bubble" opens and draws the prey inward along with water. Then the digestion of food begins. The habitat of another carnivorous plant called NepEntes or Pitcher, is tropical forests. It grows mainly as a liana, but among the 80 varieties of this plant there are also shrubs. The pitcher got its name for the special shape of the leaves, reminiscent of a jug, which helps it collect rainwater. These "jugs" are also large enough to catch frogs, rodents and small birds. However, insects remain the main prey of Nepenthes. On the inner part of the walls of the pitcher there are glands that produce nectar and wax. Nectar lures prey, and smooth wax does not allow to get out and the insect, falling into the water at the bottom of the jug, drowns. The next predatory plant is the handsome Byblis. The range of this low shrub is Northern Australia and southern New Guinea, as well as small areas in Western Australia. Byblis branches are dotted with narrow long leaves, on the surface of which there are bristles and glands that secrete a strong adhesive substance and a digestive enzyme. Both insects and small animals fall into such a trap. Australian Aborigines once believed that the Byblis was even capable of catching and digesting a human. But this did not stop them from using biblis leaves as a source of glue. And this bright representative of insectivorous plants lives in swamps and belongs to the Sarraceniaceae family. Sarracenia has bright flowers and bright green leaves dotted with crimson capillary lines. Its leaves resemble envelopes exuding sweet juice. Once in such a trap, the insect is doomed. And the scenario with digestion and assimilation is still the same. And although the process of hunting Sarracenia is not as spectacular as, for example, hunting a Venus flytrap, it is nevertheless quite interesting to watch a flower. Today, these miracle plants can be purchased at many flower shops, including through the Internet. The buyer has a very wide choice. So, if you have a desire to decorate your house and at the same time clean it from annoying insects, these “green predators” can help you with this.

Historical information and study

Insectivorous plants became known in the 18th century. The very first accurate botanical description Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula) was made by the English naturalist John Ellis in a letter to Carl Linnaeus in 1769. In the letter, Ellis suggested for the first time that the insects he caught were food for plants.

At the beginning of the 19th century, a number of new genera and species belonging to this group of plants were described. So, Kortals in 1835 described the phenomenon of insectivorousness in plants of the genus Nepenthes ( Nepenthes) .

Soon there were works devoted to a deep study of the characteristics of such plants. In 1861, Auger de Lassu described the sensitivity to touch and movement of the leaves of plants of the genus Aldrovand ( Aldrovanda). In 1868 an American scientist William Canby first pointed out the digestive properties of the juice secreted by the glands on the leaves of the Venus flytrap.

The next step in the study of insectivorous plants was the research work of Charles Darwin, which began with observations of sundews in 1860. At the same time, Darwin set up a series of laboratory experiments that grew into research. He studied the "tastes" of plants and compiled a "menu". Darwin was attracted by the ability of plants to digest food, their grasping movements, high sensitivity to touch - that is, properties similar to those of animals. Subsequently, these experiments became serious scientific work, which absorbed many unique observations and bold, but reasonable conclusions.

Darwin was so captivated by this work that in a letter to Lyell he wrote:

Darwin long time hesitated to publish the results of his research. Only 15 years later, when they were supplemented by other researchers, he published the book "Insectivorous Plants" (). The second edition of Insectivorous Plants, with large additions written by his son, appeared after Darwin's death in 1888.

The work of Charles Darwin marked a turning point in the study of carnivorous plants. As K. Goebel writes (1893),

<…>hardly any other department of botany in modern times attracted the attention of a wider circle than the so-called insectivorous plants. The reason for this was in particular the extensive work of Darwin, which gave impetus to the appearance of numerous other works.

However, this work did not immediately find recognition among scientists of its time and was subjected to severe criticism, in most cases because of their fundamental differences with Darwin's new evolutionary theory. Director of the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden E. Regel (1879) expressed the opinion that Darwin's statement about the existence of insectivorous plants in nature belongs to the number of theories,

over which every sane botanist and natural scientist would simply laugh, if it did not come from the famous Darwin. We hope that the cold mind (der kuhle Verstand) and the thorough observation of our German investigators will soon throw this theory, like the theories of  primary genesis, parthenogenesis, alternation of generations, etc., into a box of scientific rubbish, which the former followers of such theories themselves least of all ever want to open.

However, until now, Darwin's fundamental work is the largest contribution to the study of carnivorous plants.

Evolution

Template:Biophoto Data on the evolution of insectivorous plants is extremely scarce due to the small number of fossil remains of the latter. Fossils, most of which are represented by seeds or pollen, have not been found enough. Most representatives of insectivores, being herbaceous plants, lack dense structures such as bark or wood, and the trapping formations themselves are probably not preserved as fossils.

Botanical description

Insectivores are predominantly perennial herbaceous plants, but subshrubs and small shrubs are also found.

The largest known insectivorous plant is the giant biblis ( Byblis gigantea), a small (up to half a meter) shrub from the Biblis family, growing in Australia. Not only insects come across in it, but also snails and even frogs and lizards. Nepenthes - tropical lianas with a lignified stem, grow up to 4 m in length (winged Nepenthes). There are species of Nepenthes that attract small mammals with nectar and use their excrement as fertilizer.

They live mainly in swampy meadows and swamps, in the water of fresh water reservoirs. Rosolist ( Drosophyllum), a shrub up to 30 cm high, growing on dry sands in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Local farmers have long used this plant instead of sticky fly paper, hanging it inside their houses.

Animals are used as an additional source of phosphorus, potassium and other elements. Insects are caught using modified leaves - trapping organs. Attract insects by color, smell or sweet secretions. On the surface of the leaves there are glands that secrete digestive enzymes: pepsin and organic acids (formic, benzoic and others), which digest the caught prey, breaking down animal proteins. The products formed as a result of such extracellular digestion, mainly amino acids, are absorbed and assimilated.

• actively catching - with actively moving organs for catching insects (dew, flycatcher);
• passively catching;
  • with mucous and sticky secretions on the leaves, catching insects (rosolist, zhiryanka);
  • with traps - jugs, bubbles and the like (pemphigus, nepenthes, genlisia, sarracenia).

Trap types

Plants use five main types of prey traps:

• trapping leaves in the form of pitchers;
• leaves that close in the form of traps;
• sticky traps;
• suction traps;
• crab claw trap.

The type of trap does not depend on whether the plant belongs to a particular family.

Loss of predation

Template:Biophoto Many plant species can be classified as protoinsectivores or parainsectivores. Plants that can extract the nutrients they need from insects adhering to their surface are called protoinsectivores; however, unlike insectivorous plants, they lack special trapping devices and do not have an attractive smell and secretory glands. Protoinsectivorousness is common for plants with glandular pubescence (yellow ibicella, some types of cinquefoil, geraniums) and sticky stems (tar). Parainsectivorous plants have partially lost the ability to catch and digest small animals and, in the course of evolution, have adapted to use other sources of nutrients. One of these plants is Nepenthes pitcher ( Nepenthes ampullaria), which, along with attracting, catching and digesting arthropods, has the ability to obtain nutrients from the falling leaves of other plants that fall into its trapping "jug". Another example is Nepenthes Low ( Nepenthes lowii). Preliminary studies have shown that this species is presumably adapted to "catching" bird droppings, feeding on its nectar and sweet secretions. Nepenthes Attenborough ( Nepenthes attenboroughii), native to the Philippines, synthesizes sweet nectar on the lid of a jug. Small animals love to feast on this nectar - tupai, which use these jugs as a toilet. From the animal's feces, the insectivorous plant receives nitrogen and phosphorus - and produces a new portion of attracting nectar, completing the cycle.

Pemphigus purpurea ( Utricularia purpurea) has partially lost the ability to catch prey. At the same time, she developed a mutualistic relationship, providing her bubbles for algae and zooplankton to inhabit.

cultivation

Template: Biophoto Although different kinds carnivorous plants are differently demanding on lighting, air humidity and soil, they are united by some common features.

Watering

Most carnivorous plants require rain or other specially prepared demineralized water with a slightly acidic, almost neutral environment (about 6.5).

Ordinary tap or drinking water contains mineral salts (in particular, calcium salts), which quickly accumulate in tissues and can destroy the plant. This is because most carnivorous plants grow in acidic, nutrient-poor soils and are therefore extremely sensitive to excess calcium and excessive amounts of nutrients. Since most of these plants grow in swampy areas, almost all of them are moisture-loving and do not tolerate drought. Although there are exceptions, for example: tuberous sundews, which need a dry (summer) dormant period, and the Lusitanian dewberry ( Drosophyllum lusitanicum) growing in dry conditions.

"Feeding"

Outdoor grown plants are able to provide for themselves necessary quantity insects. Insects can be fed to plants by hand to supplement their diet. However, carnivorous plants are usually unable to digest large amounts of food, which can rot in the trap, which in turn can lead to the death of the plant. Small carnivores, such as some species of ants and spiders, dive directly into the digestive juice and eat the prey caught by the plant, thereby making it easier for the plant to digest.

A carnivorous plant that does not catch insects rarely dies, although its growth may be retarded. In general, these plants are best left to fend for themselves. After watering tap water, the most common cause of the death of the Venus flytrap is the mechanical impact on the traps in order to examine them up close and “feed” them, for example, with cheese or other products.

illumination

Most carnivorous plants require bright light, and most will look better under these conditions, as this encourages them to synthesize red and purple pigments called anthocyanins. For Nepenthes and Pinguicula the best conditions will be absolute UV, however for most other species direct sunlight is acceptable.

Humidity

Carnivorous plants mainly grow in swamps, and therefore require high humidity air. On a small scale, this can be achieved by placing the plant pot on a wide tray of pebbles that are constantly moistened. Small species of Nepenthes grow well in large terrariums.

Temperature

Many carnivorous plants come from cold temperate regions and can be grown outdoors, in swamps, or in gardens all year round. Majority Sarracenia can tolerate temperatures below freezing, despite this, most species are native to the southeastern United States. Kinds Drosera and Pinguicula can also tolerate low temperatures. Nepenthes are species that are tropical, requiring a temperature rise of +20 to +30 °C for flowering. Template: Biophoto Many Sarracenia hybrids developed are very unpretentious, in particular, they are quite undemanding to the content of nutrients in the soil. Most value 3:1 peat mix Sphagnum to sand (coconut is an acceptable and more environmentally friendly substitute for peat). Nepenthes orchids will grow in compost or pure sphagnum moss.

Pests

Beginner gardeners can recommend species originating from cool temperate climate conditions, in greenhouse conditions (minimum 5 ° C in winter time, maximum +25 ° C in summer) such plants will feel good in wide trays with rain or acidified water in summer period, and under conditions humid air in winter.

The Venus flytrap can live in these conditions, but it is actually quite difficult to grow: despite good care, in winter it is often exposed to gray mold infection, even if it is well ventilated.

Some of the lowland Nepenthes ( Nepenthes) grow very quickly in relatively constant warm and humid conditions.

Insectivorous plants as an artistic image

Template: Biophoto Insectivorous plants have always attracted interest, which is reflected in works of art, films, commercials, computer games, where they were often credited with the ability to reach enormous sizes and other extraordinary properties. One of the first rumors, later debunked, about

Exist unusual plants capable of assimilating live protein foods. These are the so-called carnivorous or insectivorous plants. Habitual natural habitats of such plants are extremely poor in nutrients. These are wet rocks, raised bogs, swampy meadows, wet sands. These plants make up for the lack of nutrition by catching insects and other small animals with the help of specially adapted leaves. In most cases, insects fall into the traps, the body of which is digested by enzymes or destroyed by acids secreted for this very purpose. As a result, the plant, in addition to photosynthesis, uses an additional source of nutrition.

One of the largest species of carnivorous plants

The size of the Nepenthes pitcher trap, one of the largest species of insectivorous plants in the Aristolochia family, allows it to catch rats and small birds.

The genus Nepenthes (Nepenthes) includes over 70 species of plants of the Nepentaceae family,
growing mainly in tropical Asia; about 20 - on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra; several species in the Indochina peninsula, the Philippines, New Guinea, tropical Australia.
Most of them are creepers reaching several meters, but there are also low shrubs. Bushy vines, as a rule, lead an epiphytic lifestyle in the warm and humid jungles of the archipelagos of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In Tropical Asia, the Seychelles, Madagascar and Northern Australia live the most powerful of all "predators" - representatives of the genus Nepenthes (Nepenthes). They can also grow in the mountains - at an altitude of up to 2000 m, and on the edge of the forest, and even in the surf zone. This liana most often settles on tree trunks, wrapping them around tens of meters in height and bringing narrow inflorescences to the light.

Leaves alternate, lanceolate. In addition to the usual, pitcher leaves are developed, in which rainwater accumulates. Their tip elongates into a thin long tendril that wraps around a branch of the host tree, and ends with a jug with a lid. At the base is a wide plate that supports photosynthesis. The middle part is endowed with sensitivity, enabling the plant to wrap itself around the leaves of trees. And, finally, the apical one - a jug with a lid - for catching insects.

Torone of the jug has two toothed wings from top to bottom, which serve both to support the jug and to guide crawling insects. Along the inner edge of the jug are cells that secrete sweet nectar. Under them - a lot of hard hairs, turned downwards - a bristly palisade that does not allow the victim to get out of the jug. The wax secreted by the cells of the smooth surface of the leaves in most Nepenthes makes this surface so slippery that no claws, hooks or suckers can help the victim. Once in such a jar-trap, the insect is doomed, it sinks deeper into the water - and drowns.

Inside the jug, the proteolytic (digestive) enzyme nepentesin is secreted. Above the mouth of the jug is a fixed lid that protects the contents of the jug from rainwater and serves as a landing site for insects. Insects, crawling inside the jug, slide along its walls and end up on the bottom, where they are exposed to the action of the enzyme. Once in a liquid containing enzymes and acids, the prey is completely digested within 5-8 hours. Only the chitinous cover remains. However, Nepenthes can secrete an enzyme that can even dissolve chitin.

Where large prey gets into them: rodents, toads and even birds. Jugs are painted bright colours: red, milky white and colored with a spotted pattern, reach 15-20, and sometimes 50 cm in length, the amount of accumulating enzyme can reach up to 1-2 liters.

And this is how Neppentes attracts those who want to drink tropical insects in the heat:

Sundew caught prey

Well, after viewing the pictures and videos, a little about each species of this plant.

In total, about 500 species of predator plants are known. In the most famous "predators" - sundews, nepenthes and sarracenia - insects make up the bulk of the prey (hence the other name for these plants is insectivorous). Others - water bladderworts and aldrovands - most often catch planktonic crustaceans. There are also such "predatory" plants that feed on fry, tadpoles, or even toads and lizards. There are three groups of such insectivorous plants - these are plants with trap leaves, in which the halves of the leaves with teeth along the edge close tightly, plants with sticky leaves, in which the hairs on the leaves secrete a sticky liquid that attracts insects, and plants in which the leaves are shaped jug with a lid filled with water.

Why do plants "predation"?
The fact is that all carnivorous plants grow on poor soils, such as peat or sand. In such conditions, there is less competition among plants (few people are able to survive here), and the ability to catch live prey, break down and assimilate animal protein makes up for the lack of mineral nutrition. Carnivorous plants are especially numerous on moist soils, swamps and swamps, where they compensate for the lack of nitrogen at the expense of caught animals. As a rule, they are brightly colored, and this attracts insects that are used to associating bright colors with the presence of nectar.

What is characteristic of carnivorous plants?

They have various devices for trapping small animals, mainly insects and arachnids, digest their victims with the "digestive juice" secreted by special glands, and absorb the resulting nutritious slurry, thus supplementing the nitrogen they need, obtained from the soil, with nitrogen from animal tissues. Leaves are usually turned into insect trapping organs. They are covered with glue, carry sticky hairs, can be bent inward, closing like a palm gathered into a fist. The leaf can be turned into a jar with a lid, from which an insect that has entered it cannot escape.

There are reasons to believe that some cultivated plants not averse to feast on "meat" So, rainwater accumulates in the bases of pineapple leaves, and small aquatic organisms multiply there - ciliates, rotifers, worms, insect larvae. There are suspicions that pineapple is able to digest and assimilate them.

The most famous types:

Sundew

The genus Drosera (sundew) includes about 130 plant species. They live in tropical swamps, and in the long-drying soils of the Australian subtropics, and even beyond the Arctic Circle in the tundra. In central Russia, you can find round-leaved sundew. Usually sundews catch small insects, but some species are able to catch larger prey.
The leaves of the sundew are covered with red or bright orange hairs, each of which is topped with a shiny droplet of liquid. In tropical sundews, the leaves resemble a necklace of many hundreds of dewdrop beads sparkling in the sun. But this is a deadly necklace: attracted by the shine of the droplets, the reddish color of the leaf and its smell, the insect gets stuck in the sticky surface.
The victim's desperate attempts to free himself lead to the fact that more and more neighboring hairs are leaning towards him, and in the end he is covered with sticky mucus. The insect dies. The sundew then releases an enzyme that dissolves the prey. Only the wings, chitinous cover and other hard parts remain intact. If not one insect, but two at once, sits on a leaf, then the hairs, as it were, share their duties and cope with both.

Zhiryanka

It acts almost the same as the sundew, luring insects with sticky secretions of its long, tapering leaves, collected in a rosette. Sometimes the edges of the leaves are bent inward, and the prey in such a tray is locked. Other leaf cells then secrete digestive enzymes. After the “dish” is consumed, the leaf unfolds and is ready to act again.

Venus flytrap

The genus Dionaea includes only one species, Dioneae muscipulata, better known as the Venus flytrap. This is the only plant in which the capture of insects by the rapid movement of the trap can be observed even with the naked eye. In nature, the flycatcher is found in the swamps of North and South Carolina.
In an adult plant, the maximum size of the trap is 3 cm. Depending on the season, the type of trap changes markedly. In summer, when there is a lot of prey, the trap is brightly colored (usually dark red) and reaches its maximum size. In winter, when there is little prey, the traps decrease in size. There are thick tooth-like spines along the edges of the leaf, each leaf (“jaw”) is equipped with 15-20 teeth, and in the middle of the leaf there are three sentinel hairs. An insect or other creature attracted by a bright leaf cannot but touch these hairs. The collapse of the trap occurs only after a double irritation of the hairs in the range from 2 to 20 seconds. This prevents the traps from triggering when it rains.
It is no longer possible to open the trap. If the leaf misses or something inedible gets into it, it will reopen in half an hour. Otherwise, it will remain closed until it has digested the prey, which can take up to several weeks. As a rule, the leaves, before dying off and being replaced by new ones, work in this way only two or three times.

Nepenthes

The genus includes about 80 plant species from tropical rainforests. Most of them are creepers reaching several meters, but there are also low shrubs. Nepenthes traps are adapted to capture very large prey. The largest Nepenthes can also catch small rodents, toads and even birds. However, their usual prey is insects.
Nepenthes catch prey in a completely different way than all other predatory plants. In their tubular leaves, shaped like pitchers, rainwater accumulates. In some, the tip of the leaf is folded like a funnel, through which water flows inward; in others, it is folded over and covers the opening, limiting the amount of incoming moisture to prevent overflow in heavy rains. By outside From top to bottom of the pitcher there are two toothed wings that serve both to support the pitcher and to guide crawling insects. Along the inner edge of the jug are cells that secrete sweet nectar. Under them - a lot of hard hairs, turned downwards - a bristly palisade that does not allow the victim to get out of the jug. The wax secreted by the cells of the smooth surface of the leaves in most Nepenthes makes this surface so slippery that no claws, hooks or suckers can help the victim. Once in such a jar-trap, the insect is doomed, it sinks deeper into the water - and drowns. At the bottom of the jug, the insect decomposes, and its soft parts are absorbed by the plant.
Nepenthes (pitchers) are sometimes called "hunting cups", since the liquid contained in them can be drunk: clean water is in the top of the jug. Of course, somewhere below are the undigested solid remains of the "dinners" of the plant. But with some care, they cannot be reached, and almost every jug contains a sip or two, or even a lot more water.

Sarracenia

The genus includes 9 species from the Sarraceniaceae family. All members of the family are marsh plants. The flowers are very bright. And even non-flowering sarracenia attract attention: emerald, with a dense network of raspberry veins, trap leaves flowing with sweet juice resemble fabulous flowers. Attracted by a bright trap, insects sit on the trap and die.

Darlingtonia (Darlingtonia)- a swamp plant in North America, one of the strangest in the world: it amazes with its jugs in the form of a hood of a cobra, preparing for an attack (hence the other name - Cobra Plant). Insects are caught by smell, and the hairs on the walls of the leaves provide only downward movement.

In Australia, you can find Giant Byblis (Byblis gigantea), completely covered with leaves with sticky hairs and glands with a very sticky substance. It is about him that rumors still circulate as a man-eating plant. According to legends, the remains of people have been found near these plants more than once. The local natives used its leaves as super glue.

domestic predators

There is an opinion that predator plants cannot be kept at home. Indeed, they most often die after a while, however, there are types of predator plants that are most suitable for room conditions. These are the Venus flytrap, various sundews, medium-sized Nepenthes species, tropical butterflies and most Sarracenia species.

Sarracenia grow beautifully in a room without much care. The soil mixture should be loose and not nutritious: washed quartz sand, chopped sphagnum and high peat (1:2:3) with the addition of pieces of charcoal. Sarracenia often suffer from waterlogging, so they need good drainage. Watering - distilled or clean snow (rain) water. Optimal location for them in the apartment - a window sill, best of all under a constantly ajar window, wintering at t 10-15 ° C.

The Venus flytrap is very fond of children and adults, they put their fingers in it and watch how the small soft mouth closes. The surprising fact is that the reaction rate is only one-thirtieth of a second! This plant also knows how to play the game "edible-inedible", and if the food is suitable, then the leaf will open again only after 6-10 days. But if the leaf slammed shut in vain, then after 1-2 days the flycatcher will again go hunting.

It is the Venus flytrap that is most often bred at home and begin to feed. Caught flies are also suitable, and even small pieces of ordinary meat. Therefore, if such an exotic has settled in your house, setting the meat table, do not forget to invite your green friend to him.

Carnivorous plants are quite widespread throughout the world. In nature, there are 450 species of similar plants, which are combined into six families. Insects form the basis of their diet, therefore carnivorous plants are often also called insectivorous.

Carnivorous plants are a miracle of nature. They are amazingly adapted to life in places characterized by a lack of nutrients in the soil. These plants have become predators! The need for survival requires them to be able to catch live prey.

Carnivorous plants obtain food in five ways. Some of them use pitcher-shaped traps, others use sticky traps, the next use crabs, the fourth use suction traps, and the fifth use flapping leaves.

Carnivorous plants have "developed" many ways to lure insects. For example, in some predatory plants, the edges of the trapping leaves have a bright red color, while in others, the inner walls of the leaf secrete a sugary substance that attracts insects.

Venus flytrap


The most famous of the carnivorous plants is the flycatcher (Dionaea muscipula), but its Russian-language name is the Venus flytrap. According to one version, this plant predator was named after the Roman goddess because its trap leaves are shaped like a female genital organ.

The trap itself is located on a short stem and outwardly resembles an open shell of mollusks. Along the edges of the flaps there is one row of teeth, comparable to long eyelashes. However, all this is just an entourage, while the real weapons are glands and trigger hairs. The glands are located along the inner side of the teeth-eyelashes and secrete a sweet-smelling nectar, which is so difficult for insects to pass by. When the victim crawls inside the trap, triggers come into play - they react to touch. The trap does not close immediately, only a few consecutive touches to the triggers (and there are three of them on each leaf) are able to close the trap. Dionea, having received an insect in her trap, begins the process of digestion. The same glands that produced nectar begin to secrete abundant digestive juice, in which the insect drowns. It usually takes several days to digest, after which the valves open again, revealing to the world only the chitinous shell of the victim.

Sundew


The round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) is practically the only carnivorous plant growing on the territory of the former Soviet Union. It is found mainly in the northern and central regions of our country. The photo shows that it owes its name to small droplets of sticky liquid that are on the hairs that cover the leaves of this plant. These droplets glisten in the sun and are very similar to dew. It is in them that the digestive enzyme lies, which allows the sundew to digest insects, and thus receive the necessary nutrition even on poor peat soils.

It is very interesting to watch how the sundew catches insects. Unlike the Venus flytrap, the sundew does not close its trap. And the point here again is in the droplets covering the leaves. They are sticky enough to deter an insect that has had the imprudence to be seduced by the sweet fragrance of this plant.

After the insect has stuck, the leaf begins to slowly roll up, surrounding its victim with more and more transparent sticky liquid. After the complete folding of the leaf, the process of digestion begins, which usually takes several days. After this process is completed, the leaf unfolds and is again covered with droplets.

Nepenthes


Spectacular and original pitcher belongs to the genus Nepenthes (Nepenthes), which includes several dozen species of plants of the Nepenthaceae family. The unusual shape of this flower immediately attracts attention. Even after seeing a photo of Nepentes just once, you can fall in love with him completely and irrevocably. But its main feature is that Nepenthes is a predator flower. Its attractive brightly colored jugs contain a liquid that allows the flower to be digested and used as insect food.

Sarracenia


Sarracenia, or the North American carnivorous plant, is a genus of carnivorous plants found in areas of the east coast of North America, in Texas, in the Great Lakes, in southeastern Canada, but most of found only in the southeastern states.

This plant uses water lily-shaped traps as a trap. The leaves of the plant have developed into a funnel with a hood-like formation that grows over the opening, preventing rainwater from entering, which can dilute the digestive juices. Insects are attracted to color, smell, and secretions like nectar at the edge of a water lily. The slippery surface and the drug that surrounds the nectar encourage insects to fall inward, where they die and are digested by protease and other enzymes.

darlingtonia

Darlingtonia Californian 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 a hole under a balloon-like structure and two sharp leaves that hang down like fangs.

Unlike many carnivorous plants, it does not use trapping leaves to trap, but 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 dense, fine hairs that grow inwards. Insects can follow the hairs deep into the digestive organs, but cannot go back.

Genlisey


Genlisea consists of 21 species, usually grows in humid terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments and is distributed in Africa and Central and South America.

Genlisea is a small herb with yellow flowers that use a crab claw-type trap. Such traps are easy to get into, but impossible to get out of because of the small hairs that grow towards the entrance or, as in this case, forward in a spiral.

These plants have two distinct types of leaves: photosynthetic leaves above ground and special underground leaves that lure, trap and digest small organisms such as protozoa. The underground leaves also perform the role of roots, such as water absorption and attachment, since the plant itself does not have them. These underground leaves underground form hollow tubes that look like a spiral. Small microbes get into these tubes with the help of a stream of water, but cannot get out of them. By the time they get to the exit, they will already be overcooked.

Pemphigus


Bladderwort (Utricularia) is a genus of carnivorous plants with 220 species. They meet in fresh water or moist soil as ground or aquatic species on all continents except Antarctica.

They are the only carnivorous plants that use the bubble trap. Most species have very small traps in which they can catch very small prey such as protozoa. Traps range from 0.2 mm to 1.2 cm, and larger prey, such as water fleas or tadpoles, fall into large traps.

The bubbles are under negative pressure relative to the environment. The opening of the trap opens, sucks in the insect and surrounding water, closes the valve, and all this happens in thousandths of a second.

Zhiryanka


Oilwort (Pinguicula) belongs to a group of carnivorous plants that use sticky, glandular leaves to lure and digest insects. Nutrients obtained from insects supplement the soil, which is poor in minerals. There are approximately 80 species of these plants in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

The leaves are succulent and usually bright green or pink in color. There are two special types of cells found on the upper side of the leaves. One is known as the peduncle and is made up of secretory cells at the top of a single stem cell. These cells produce a slimy 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 that aid the digestive process. While many species of butterwort are carnivorous all year round, many types form a dense winter rosette that is not carnivorous. When summer comes, it blooms and has new carnivorous leaves.

Byblis


Byblis, or the rainbow plant, is small view carnivorous plant native to Australia. The rainbow plant gets its name from the attractive slime that coats the leaves in the sun. Despite the fact that these plants are similar to sundews, they are not related to the latter in any way and are distinguished by zygomorphic flowers with five curved stamens.

Its leaves have a round 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.

Aldrovanda vesicularis


Aldrovanda vesiculosa is a magnificent rootless, carnivorous aquatic plant. It usually feeds on small aquatic vertebrates using a trap trap.

The plant consists mainly of free-floating stems that reach 6-11 cm in length. Leaves-traps, 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 curl every day. While the plant grows at one end, the other end gradually dies.

The plant trap consists of two lobes that close like a trap. The holes of the trap point outward and are covered with fine hairs that allow the trap to close around any prey that comes close enough. The trap closes in tens of milliseconds, which is one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom.

Cephalotus


Cephalotus is the one and only predator from distant Australia. Despite their tiny size (adult plants usually reach only 7-10 cm), cephalotuses are incredibly attractive and interesting. The plant perfectly copes with the role of a hunter, some tricks help it in this. The slippery edges of jars, sharp spikes that prevent insects from getting out of the trap, and special cells devoid of pigment on the lid of the jar that let in light and create a deceptive impression of "open sky".

And of course, the deadly digestive fluid at the bottom of the trap. Such is the insidious and cunning little cephalotus. However, from the outside it seems defenseless and requiring care and attention. And this is also his little trick.

Heliamphora


Heliamphora is a predatory beauty native to South America. Its name comes from the places in which it lives, "a jug of swamps" - this is how "Heliamphora" is translated. And indeed, most of all, the plant looks like bright jugs that have grown in inconspicuous gray swamps.

The method of hunting heliamphora is simple and straightforward. The predator attracts insects with nectar, which is produced in the so-called nectar spoon located on the hood of the jug, and when the insect sits on the jug, it literally rolls down the smooth slippery walls inside, where digestion takes place. As they say, everything ingenious is simple.

This is how you think before you start a flower at home.