Jan 21st, 2009
Carnivorous Plants
If you want to add a unique touch to your garden, carnivorous plants are bound to get attention. From the common Venus Flytrap to the Cobra plant, these exotics serve several purposes. Both these plants consume insects and can be of benefit to any garden in that way and in addition, they are a great conversational piece. The size of the plant you select will determine the amount of insects consumed, however, the entertainment they provide for both adults and children alike, is well worth the investment.
There are five different types of carnivorous plants. Of course the most popular and more widely known are the plants from the Venus Flytrap plant family. The carnivorous Venus flytrap plant can snap its clamshell leaves around an insect in less than a second.
Once an insect is captured, the plant closes its trap tightly around the meal and bathes it in digestive juices that dissolve the insect’s soft, inner parts. These traps rely on prey falling into the plant and them being unable to escape.
These plants range from colorful to bland, and do not have moving parts like their snap trap counterparts.
Flypaper traps are among some of the coolest carnivorous plants. They are covered with dense, gland-tipped hairs and several tiny midge flies are stuck to the sticky hairs, which causes the insect to be enzymatically digested and absorbed by the plant. The type of secretion created by this particular plant can cause skin irritation to humans and therefore should be treated with caution.
Bladder traps plants are a fascinating subset of carnivorous plants. Numerous, tiny glands inside the bladder absorb most of the internal water and expel it on the outside, and as a result, a partial vacuum is produced inside the bladder and the pressure on the outside becomes greater than the inside. Once an insect or aquatic species has been trapped within, escape is difficult. Unlike many carnivorous plant species, these are more commonly found underwater than above ground.
Finally, the lobster pot traps are among some of the most unusual looking carnivorous plants that you can acquire, they function by giving insects an easy way to enter, but little chance of escape.
In the case of the corkscrew plant, the insides of the plant have downward pointing obstructions and a y-shaped leaf structure that prevents the escape of its prey.
For those interested in borderline species, there are several varieties of plants that do not meet all of the requirements of carnivorous plants, but have sharing characteristics. Some of these type of plants come from the Martyniaceae family, such as the Brocchinia Roridula. They are not considered to be in the same classification as true carnivorous plants because they do not, attract, kill and digest prey.
Carnivorous plants should be placed where young children and babies cannot reach them. Even though they are considered relatively harmless to humans, the type of digestive enzymes they produce to break down their captured prey, should be avoided.
