Carnivorous plants are quite widespread throughout the world. In nature, there are 450 species of such plants, which are combined into six families. Insects form the basis of their diet, therefore carnivorous plants are also often called insectivores.
Predatory plants are a miracle of nature. They are surprisingly adapted to life in areas characterized by a lack of nutrients in the soil. These plants have become predators! The need to survive requires them to be able to catch live prey.
Predatory plants obtain food in five ways. Some of them use trapping leaves, which have the shape of a jug, others use sticky traps, the next use traps of the crustacean type, fourth use sucking traps, and the fifth use slamming leaves.
Carnivorous plants have developed many ways to lure insects. For example, some carnivorous plants the edges of the trapping leaves are bright red, while in others, the inner walls of the leaves secrete a sugary substance that attracts insects.
Venus flytrap 
The most famous of the carnivorous plants is Dionaea muscipula, but its Russian name is 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 valves, there is one row of denticles, comparable to long eyelashes. However, all this is only an entourage, the real weapons are glands and trigger hairs. The glands are located along inside eyelash teeth 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 successive touches to the triggers (and there are three of them on each flap) are able to close the trap. Dionea, having received an insect in her trap, begins the digestion process. The same glands that produced nectar begin to abundantly secrete digestive juice, in which the insect drowns. Usually, it takes several days to digest, after which the valves open again, revealing to the world only the chitinous shell of the victim.
Sundew 
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 covering the leaves of this plant. These droplets shine in the sun and look very much like dew. It is in them that the digestive enzyme is contained, which allows the sundew to digest insects, and thus receive the necessary nutrition even on scarce 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 is again in the droplets covering the leaves. They are sticky enough to keep an insect inadvertently seduced by the sweet scent of this plant.
After the insect has adhered, the leaf begins to slowly curl up, surrounding its prey with more and more transparent sticky liquid. After the leaf is completely curtailed, the digestion process begins, which usually takes several days. After the completion of this process, the leaf unfolds and again becomes covered with droplets.
Nepentes 
The spectacular and original pitcher belongs to the genus Nepenthes, which includes several dozen plant species of the Nepenthaceae family. The unusual shape of this flower immediately attracts attention. Even having seen a photo of a nepentes just once, you can fall in love with it completely and irrevocably. But its main feature is that nepentes is a predator flower. Its attractive, brightly colored jugs contain a liquid that allows the flower to digest and use as insect food.
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 trapping water lily-shaped leaves as a trap. The leaves of the plant have turned into a funnel with a hood-like formation that grows over the hole, preventing rainwater from entering, which can dilute the digestive juices. Insects are attracted by the color, smell and secretions, similar to nectar on the edge of a water lily. The slippery surface and the narcotic lining the nectar encourage insects to fall inward, where they die and are digested by protease and other enzymes.
Darlingtonia 
Californian Darlingtonia 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 and form a cavity with an opening under the 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 thick, fine hairs that grow inward. Insects can follow the hairs deeper into the digestive organs, but cannot go back.
Genlisei 
Genlisea consists of 21 species, usually grows in humid terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments and is common in Africa and Central and South America.
Genliseya is a small herb with yellow flowers that use a crab claw type trap. It is easy to fall into such traps, but it is impossible to get out of them because of the small hairs that grow towards the entrance or, as in this case, forward in a spiral.
These plants have two different types of leaves: photosynthetic leaves above the ground and special underground leaves that lure, trap, and digest small organisms such as protozoa. The underground leaves also serve as roots, such as water absorption and attachment, since the plant itself does not have them. These underground leaves form hollow tubes that are spiral-shaped. Small microbes enter these tubes through the flow of water, but cannot escape from them. When they get to the exit, they will already be digested.
Pemphigus 
Pemphigus (Utricularia) 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.
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 in size from 0.2 mm to 1.2 cm, and larger traps will trap larger prey such as water fleas or tadpoles.
The bubbles are under negative pressure relative to their surroundings. 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 
Toad (Pinguicula) - 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 the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The leaves are juicy and usually bright green or pink in color. There are two special types cells located on the upper side of the leaves. One is known as the pedicle gland and is made up of secretory cells at the apex of a single stem cell. These cells produce a slimy secretion that forms visible droplets on the surface of the leaves and acts like a velcro. Other cells are called sessile glands, and they sit on the surface of the leaf, producing enzymes like amylase, protease, and esterase that aid in the digestive process. While many types of birchworms 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.
Biblis 
The 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 the leaves in the sun. Despite the fact that these plants are similar to sundews, they are in no way related to the latter and differ in 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 that secrete a sticky mucous substance that serves as a trap for small insects that perch on the leaves or tentacles of the plant.
Aldrovanda bladder 
Aldrovanda Vesiculosa is a magnificent rootless, carnivorous aquatic plant. It usually feeds on small aquatic vertebrates using a 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 attach to the petioles, which contain air that allows the plant to swim. It is a fast growing plant and can grow up to 4-9 mm 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 trap of the plant consists of two lobes that slam shut like a trap. The holes of the trap are directed outward and are covered with fine hairs that allow the trap to close around any victim that gets close enough. The trap closes in tens of milliseconds, which is one of the fastest movement in the animal kingdom.
Cephalotus 
Cephalotus is the only and unique predator from distant Australia. Despite their tiny size (adult plants usually grow to only 7-10 cm), cephalotuses are incredibly attractive and interesting. The plant perfectly copes with the role of a hunter, in this it is helped by some tricks. Slippery edges of jugs, sharp thorns-growths that prevent insects from getting out of the trap, and special cells devoid of pigment on the lid of the jug, which let light through 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, he seems defenseless and requires care and attention. And this is also his little trick.
Heliamphora 
Heliamphora is a predatory beauty from South America... Its name comes from the places in which it lives, "a jug of swamps" - this is how "Heliamphora" is translated. Indeed, most of all, the plant looks like bright jugs grown in inconspicuous gray swamps.
The method of hunting heliamphors 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 inward, where digestion takes place. As they say, all ingenious is simple.
This is how you think about it before planting a flower at home.
Predatory plants have been of interest to people for a very long time. Despite the fact that these flowers exist in the real world, in literature, filmography, video games, their abilities are greatly exaggerated. What are carnivorous plants, the main species and their features, we read in this article.
What do predators eat?
The main distinguishing feature of carnivorous plants is the presence of special leaves that can catch their prey. As soon as the plate catches an insect, with the help of the secreted juice, it is instantly digested. Such nutrition helps the plant to receive all the necessary substances.
The enzymes of the flower quickly dissolve the body of the insect, but the skeletons remain undigested. In this regard, the remains of victims are often observed inside the opened buds.
Predatory plants grow on poor soils. Because of this, they are found in different countries.
Depending on the mechanism of catching prey, predator plants are divided into five subspecies:
- Flowers that catch insects with sticky leaves.
- Representatives with jug-shaped containers. The capture of the victim is done using a folded sheet. In some species, its surface is covered with bacteria. There are also plants with digestive enzymes.
- Catching of victims is carried out by suction into a vacuum bubble.
- Plants that catch prey with flapping leaves.
- Flowers with traps in the form of a crab claw. The principle of their work is aimed at ensuring that the victim is gradually directed to the site with digestive enzymes.
Carnivorous plants can not only digest insects, but also extract nutrients from them.
All plant traps are divided into passive and active. You can recognize it by the shape of the flowers.
The main varieties of carnivorous plants
Among the large number of species of carnivorous plants, only a few specimens attracted the attention of flower growers.
Carnivorous plant genlisea (Genlisea)
This variety includes more than 20 varieties. Genliseya develops well in wet soil and high humidity air. The homeland of such a plant is the southern and central parts of America, Africa.
The flower belongs to the group of low-growing plants. Genlisea has colorful, deep yellow buds. In this species, the trap is presented in the form of a crab claw. Thanks to this structure, the flower is very easy to capture the victim, which, with all the desire, will not be able to get out.
Basically, the habitat of predatory plants is Australia, Southeast Asia, North America.
Genlisea differs from other carnivorous plants in leaves. This flower has two types. The first is the standard plates responsible for photosynthesis. The second type is predatory, which are found in the soil. They are engaged in catching insects and protozoa. It should be noted that in this plant, predatory leaves are responsible for the functions of the rhizome. They absorb moisture, useful components, and also perform the function of fastening.
Predatory leaves that are in the soil form the so-called hollow spiral tubes. Insects and protozoa get into them along with the water stream, and they cannot get out back.
Biblis also refers to carnivorous plants. His homeland is the lands of Australia. Biblis is often called the rainbow plant by the locals. All this thanks to the colorful slime on the deciduous plates. Under the sun's rays, it is capable of shimmering in various shades.
This view looks like it. However, biblis is not a relative, even their flowers are different. The leaves of this plant are long and cone-shaped. Villi grow on their surface, secreting a sticky composition. It is these villi that catch insects that land on the surface.
This plant also has no root and is classified as a predator. He chooses small aquatic animals as victims. The plant has a trap that serves as a trap.
Aldrovanda feels good in the water. Its stems swim calmly, looking out for prey. The length of the shoots, on average, is 10 cm. The leaves are a so-called rosette. They are small, only 1.5-4 mm. The plant catches its prey thanks to the plates on which there are hairs.
The ability to swim appeared in the plant due to the presence of air in the petioles. The plant grows and reproduces very quickly. It can increase by 5-8 mm per day. A new curl appears every day.
Plant growth occurs on one side of the stem, and the second part gradually dies off.
Trap leaves have two parts. They close over the victim from two sides. The trap can grab anyone that swims close to the plant due to the villi located outside. For a full-fledged slamming, the flower needs only a few milliseconds.
Sarracenia or North American carnivorous plant:
- Also belongs to the group of predators.
- The flower grows in the southeast of America and Canada.
- The trap of the plant is the leaves that create something like a water lily. There is a "hood" on top of each such container. It protects the trap from rain falling into it.
- To catch an insect, the plant emits a special smell and also has an attractive color.
Along the edge of the water lily is a special substance that acts like a drug on animals. Having fallen on the edge of the water lily, they can no longer get out, gradually dying. Further, digestion takes place with the help of enzymes.
Water can negatively affect the digestive juice that is in the water lily.
General info for Nepentes
It is also a predator. Like sarracenia, nepentes uses a water lily of leaves to lure insects.
This plant includes more than 100 varieties. In the natural environment, they can be found in India, Indonesia, China, Madagascar, the Philippines, Australia and many other countries.
The plant has another name - "monkey cup". It received this name due to the fact that earlier animals used this flower as a container for drinking water. Outwardly, the plant resembles large lianas, the roots of which are quite small. The plant grows in length up to 16 meters.
The trap of nepentes is a leaf with a tendril, at the tip of which a water lily forms.
- The container opens at the top, forming a trap.
- Inside it, a sticky aqueous liquid is released, which attracts insects.
- Once in it, they drown and are digested by the plant.
- At the bottom of the water lily are glands that serve to carry nutrients.
Small species of nepentis are engaged in catching insects, while their larger representatives feed on small animals, for example, rats.
Predatory plants are outwardly quite unique and recognizable. Therefore, they are easy to find among other representatives of the fauna. Knowing the features of such flowers, their external characteristics and the main care measures, you can choose exactly the type that will fit into your room and your lifestyle.
Five types of carnivorous plants - video
Plants-predators
Predatory plants have become the true embodiment of mystery and obscurity wildlife... They conquer us with their ingenuity, excellent adaptability to a hostile environment and simply their beauty. If you adhere to the truth, then you should, of course, call them insectivorous, not predatory. But the myth of the killer plants continues to exist. If in ancient times some of the plants began to "eat", or rather "digest" insects, then only in order to survive in a hostile environment, where the soil is so poor or so acidic that the roots could not receive nutrients in the usual way. Finding no other way to satisfy their need for mineral salts and trace elements, these plants have evolved so much that they were able to obtain them from organic matter. That is why carnivorous plants began to catch living creatures that provide them with the necessary nutrition. In measure, there are up to five hundred species of predator plants. And what is most surprising, many insectivorous plants are so small, look so graceful and delicate that they do not at all seem to be insidious predators, deceiving and then devouring prey.
What makes these plants “go hunting”? The fact is that "predators" grow, as a rule, in swamps, in swampy and humid places - where most plants simply cannot survive due to lack of nutrients. And predatory plants feel great in such Spartan conditions, replenishing the diet with animal food. Of course, plants hunt in a completely different way from animals, and their prey is not the largest - insects. All hunter plants are flowering. But it is not the flowers (although sometimes very beautiful) that attract insects. The main bait for the victim is the leaves, which emit a sweet smell of a special liquid secreted by plants. This is how the round-leaved sundew, well known to the inhabitants of the northern latitudes of Russia, catches its victims.
Round-leaved sundew
Each leaflet contains up to two hundred hairs. A drop of liquid glistens at the tip of each hair. It looks like a dew drop. Hence the name of the plant - round-leaved sundew. This is a real predator plant. The shiny, sticky droplets that attract insects contain a variety of substances that are involved in the digestion of prey. The droplets also contain the substance of konyin, which immobilizes the caught insects. In response to the movements of the stuck insect, adjacent hairs are drawn to the victim, and the sundew leaf itself begins to gradually close. Digestion of a medium-sized prey occurs within 2-3 days. On the leaf that opens after a while, almost nothing remains of the victim, except for an empty skin. Unlike the Venus flycatcher, sundews are extremely widespread - they are found on all continents with the exception of Antarctica. The generic name of the plant - Drozera - hints at droplets of sticky mucous liquid that appear on the upper side and along the edges of its leaves (translated from Greek Drozos - "dew"). For the droplets of liquid sparkling in the sun, Americans call the sundew "grass precious stones". Sundews live a long time - the age of an individual plant can be tens of years. The dwarf sundew of the Pygmy Drosa growing in Australia is considered the smallest; the length of its leaves does not reach 1 cm. Largest size leaves - up to 60 cm in length has a royal sundew of Drosera regia. Sundew hunt record 51 mosquitoes caught by one plant in 3 hours! It is no coincidence that in Portugal, locals use sundews instead of sticky flypaper, hanging plants in pots on the walls of houses. Even strong horseflies stick to the leaves of their favorite sundew!
Venus flytrap
Flycatchers grow in the United States. They are found in the eastern coastal sandy wastelands and peat bogs of the states of North and South Carolina. The genus includes a single species. Among other insectivorous plants, the Venus flytrap reacts most quickly to its prey. Large white flowers are collected in terminal inflorescences of few flowers at the top of the peduncle. The fruit is an irregularly cracking capsule filled with two dozen shiny black seeds and surrounded by wilted petals. Well-developed specimens of the Venus flycatcher can tolerate both drought and temporary flooding without harm to themselves. The leaves of this plant, slightly raised above the ground, are collected in a rosette around a long peduncle. The leaf petiole is flat and wide, and the leaf blade has turned into two rounded valves, lying at an angle to each other. Its leaves, equipped with long teeth, look like open traps. The number of teeth along the edge of a trap leaf can exceed 30. Each leaf consists of two halves resembling shell valves. Insects are attracted by bright colors inner surface leaf and sweetish liquid accumulating on it. There are three sensitive hairs on each half of the leaf. As soon as a fly or other victim touches two of them, weak electrical signals appear in the tissues of the leaf, and in a split second, both of its halves close. When slammed, the teeth of the leaf intersect.
The flytrap trap is triggered in a split second. The insect's attempts to free itself from this "living trap" lead to an even tighter closing of the valves. Mechanical irritation of the hairs can lead to collapse of the leaf, however, the secretion of digestive substances in this case does not begin. After a successful hunt, the digestion of the victim, depending on its size, lasts 1-3 weeks. Sometimes a larger treat, such as small frogs or slugs. When this happens, the Venus flytrap begins its "feast". Each leaf is able to slam shut and straighten only 2-3 times, after which it dies. For a long time it was a mystery - how does a flycatcher produce such a lightning-fast movement without muscles and nerves? One of the fastest movements in the plant kingdom, the leaves of the Venus flytrap have been found to store elastic energy. They work like convex membranes, which switch from one position to another with a sharp click, as soon as you lightly press on them with your finger. When the leaves open, they are constantly on the verge of an unstable position. The insect touches the hairs of the plant, and in response it slightly changes the moisture content of the leaf (feeds juice into it). Moisture slightly changes the curvature of the surface, serving as a descent, and then the leaf itself jumps into a new stable state - closing the trap. Charles Darwin considered the flycatcher "the most amazing plant in the world."
Zhiryanka-Velcro
In the floodplains of rivers, on sphagnum bogs, on damp meadows and along the shores of shallow lakes, there are unusual plants with thick fleshy basal leaves. If you touch them with your finger, you will feel that they are sticky. These are zhiryanki. They catch insects with their sticky leaves. The scientific name of the plant is pingvikula. In Latin, pingvis is "fat". The surface of the leaves of zhiryanka shines oily thanks to the sugary mucus, which is secreted by special glands in the tissues of the leaf. This slimy coating is so sticky that an insect that has settled on a leaf is literally glued to its surface. (After contact of an insect with a leaf, an additional portion of sticky mucus is released in this place). Then the leaf begins to curl gradually, digestive juices come into play and the captured victim begins to be digested. Soon, only one empty shell remains of the captured insect. Fatty plants are able to digest even the pollen of plants that has fallen on its leaves. There are about 80 types of fatty women in the world. A smaller part of the species grows in Eurasia, North America and southern Greenland. Most of them are in Asia, Central and South America. In Europe, there are 12 types of fatty women, in North America - 10 species. On the territory of Russia there are 6 types of fatty women. Zhiryanka are also found in the very south of South America. Even in the tundra there are zhiryanka. Growing in the north of Eurasia, the common birch tree is a relict plant of the Ice Age. This means that this species existed when most of Europe was covered with a thick layer of glaciers.
Rosolist
Rosolist (Dr osophyllum lusitanicum L.) is one of the most remarkable insectivorous plants that grows in Portugal and Morocco. The plant differs from other insectivores (Drosera, Pinguicula) both in its appearance and, in particular, in its biological characteristics. It grows not in damp swampy places, like our sundew, but in dry mountains, on sandy, often even rocky soil. Its stem very often reaches a height of 1/4 arshin and at the apex bears on several, but few short branches, single flowers up to 3 cm in diameter. Leaves are found in large numbers at the base of the stem, but are also found higher along the stem. They are linearly elongated, tapering gradually towards their upper end. A small groove is observed on the upper surface of the leaves. The leaves and stems of dew-leaf are rather densely covered with small glands on clearly distinguishable stems. These glands with stalks have the shape of small hat fungi and are always covered with their secretion - small shiny droplets of liquid that resemble dewdrops, from which the plant itself received the name dewdrop. the glands of Pinguicula, one insectivorous plant that is often found in our peat bogs. In addition to these stalked glands, clearly distinguishable with the naked eye, there are even smaller, sessile glands on the dew, which are almost colorless and differ from the stalked glands in that they secrete droplets of a colorless sticky and acidic liquid only under the influence of touching them with nitrogenous bodies. The liquid of these sessile glands is very sticky, sticks strongly to objects that touch the glands, but easily lags behind them. When an insect sits on a dewdrop leaf, all its parts quickly stick together with secretions of sessile glands, but the animal can, nevertheless, move slowly at first, since the sticky liquid of the glands is easily separated from the latter. After a short period of time, the insect is completely covered with droplets of secretions of other glands, it already loses its ability to move, dies and falls on the underlying columnar glands, which, with the help of their secretions, extract everything soluble from the corpse and suck it in. Thus, the dew-leaf is fed by nitrogenous substances of animal origin. The dewdrop glands, having lost the droplets of their sticky liquid, release it again. This discharge is so abundant that the whole plant is sometimes completely covered with insects, both just shrunk and dead and already decayed. In the vicinity of Oporto, where foliage is quite common, peasants collect this plant and hang it in living quarters for catching and exterminating flies.
Aldrovanda
A genus of insectivorous aquatic plants of the sundew family. This genus includes 1 species A. vesiculosa with floating filamentous stems, without roots. Leaves 6-9 in whorls, with long bristles at the top of a wide petiole. When the delicate hairs on the surface of the leaf are irritated, it folds along, and the edges are found one on top of the other. This is how Aldrovanda catches and then digests small aquatic larvae and crustaceans. Aldrovanda is found sporadically in Western Europe, Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Australia. In the USSR - in the European part, in the Caucasus, the Far East and Central Asia, most often in the lakes of oxbows.
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Pemphigus
In the coastal area of small bodies of water with a calm fresh water you can find a curious plant - pemphigus. It floats in the upper layer of water without attaching itself to the bottom. If you look closely at the thin dissected leaves of the plant, you can see numerous rounded cheek-shaped thickenings less than half a centimeter in size. These are the trapping organs of the pemphigus. There are thin outgrowths - sensitive hairs near the entrance hole in each such "bubble". When the small crustacean touches these hairs, the curvature of the vesicle walls changes dramatically. As a result, the prey, along with a small volume of water, is literally sucked inside. Excess water is gradually "pumped out", and digestive substances begin to enter the trap with the caught victim. Soon, only the skin remains of the prey. Each trapping bubble of the plant can work several times, then gradually dies off. The genus pemphigus is quite extensive - there are up to 200 species. 6 of them are found in Europe and on the territory of Russia. Many types of pemphigus are not aquatic plants, they are found in the tropics on moist soil, among moss, or even on tree trunks. In the Northern Hemisphere, the most common and larger is the pemphigus vulgaris. Its branches form something like a floating platform, over which thin peduncles rise in the height of summer. Plants get from the reservoir to the reservoir with the help of migratory waterfowl, to the legs of which their stems easily stick. In northern latitudes, with the onset of autumn, wintering buds form in pemphigus; in the spring they will give rise to a new generation of plants. You can observe pemphigus in an aquarium or in a volumetric glass jar... The capture of prey can be seen without special magnifying devices. Settled soft fresh water is suitable for keeping. For feeding live prey, you can use small crustaceans - cyclops and daphnia.
Usually, aquarists use such live prey as food for fry. Pemphigus is able to hunt even small fry!
Cephalotussac-shaped
Cephalotus follicularis Cephalotus is endemic to the Southwest Australian Floristic Province. It is found in a limited area that stretches along the sea coast in the extreme southeast of the province. Cephalotus grows in relatively dry places along the edges of peat bogs. This is a small herbaceous plant with an underground rhizome. A rosette of closely spaced basal leaves is formed annually. Leaves of two types - upper (internal) flat, solid, thick, with glands on the petiole and on the lower side of the plate, and the lower (external) ones turned into complex trapping jugs, located more or less obliquely on the soil surface. Flat leaves develop during the Australian fall (March - April) and reach full development in the spring (August - September), while the pitcher leaves develop in winter and spring and fully form and function actively in the summer (November - January) when insects are most abundant. ... In November - December, a very long leafless peduncle rises from the middle of the rosette, bearing an inflorescence at the top, consisting of small lateral dichazia, each of which consists of 3-8 flowers. Flowering occurs in January and early February. The flowers are small, whitish, bisexual, petal. The calyx is multi-leaved, 6-lobed. 12 stamens, in two alternating circles, attached to the apex of the calyx tube at the outer edge of the thick disc. A hemispherical cell mass is formed on the outside of the connective, which served as the basis for the French botanist J. de Labillardier (1806), who first described this plant, as a reason to call it cephalotus (Greek kephalotos - capitate). Gynoecium apocarpous, of 6 carpels located in one circle; carpels elongate in a slightly bent column and on the ventral side of the upper part are covered with very small stigma papillae. Each carpel usually has 1 (rarely 2) basal ovules. The fruit is a multileaf, ripening in February or March. Fruits are covered with hairs bent down; the columns remain with the fruits, lengthen and hook outward. The hairs and the hooked column contribute to zoochoric distribution. Seeds with a very small embryo surrounded by abundant fleshy endosperm.
In the structure and life of cephalotus, the most interesting are the jug-like leaves, morphology and biology of which a rather large literature is devoted. The pitcher leaves consist of an ovoid pitcher, 0.5 to 3 cm long, and the hairy petiole oriented almost perpendicularly to its axis. In a young state, the jug is closed with a lid, which subsequently opens. A jug with a lid is the result of invagination of the leaf blade. As you know, ascidian leaves (from the Greek askidion - sac) are sometimes found as anomalies in plants with normal flat leaves, which is caused by uneven tissue growth. In cephalotus, abnormal leaves are quite often found, representing different stages of the transformation of an ordinary flat leaf into a jug-like leaf, described by the English botanist A. Dixon (1882). To some extent, they correspond to the stages of ontogenetic development of the pitcher, first thoroughly studied by the German botanist A.V. Eichler (1881). The structure of the jug-like leaf of the cephalotus is so remarkable that it is necessary to talk about it in more detail. The epidermis of the outer surface of the jug, consisting of thick-walled cells, is equipped with stomata and submerged glands. In addition, three somewhat flattened ridges stretch along the entire length of the jug. All three combs are covered with long hairs. But the most interesting is the inner surface of the jug, the acquaintance with which we begin with its obliquely upward directed opening, or throat. The edge of the hole is framed by a rather thick rim, or peristome (from the Greek peri - around, about and stoma - mouth), which is interrupted only at the place where the operculum leaves. The rim is corrugated, as it were, with alternating ridges and grooves, with each ridge forming a claw-like tooth directed downwards into the urn. The teeth are dark red and contrast well with the light green of the deep grooves. If we now make a longitudinal section of the jug, then in its upper part we will see a pale green collar from 2 to 8 mm wide, which is a continuation of the peristome and overhangs with its lower sharp edge in the form of a cornice. The collar consists mainly of the spongy parenchyma, which forms the thickest part of the pitcher wall. It is covered with very peculiar tiled epidermal cells overlapping each other, the surface of which is characterized by a fine radial streak. Each of these cells is elongated into a pointed process directed downward. Together with the claw-like teeth of the peristome, these processes form a "retarding ring" that prevents the insect from getting out, and a "slip zone" that contributes to its fall into the jug. The inner part of the jug located under the collar consists of parenchymal cells with wavy walls. These cells often contain a dark red pigment. With the exception of a narrow strip lying directly under the eaves of the collar, in the upper half of this part of the pitcher cavity there are numerous small submerged glands, which gradually grow larger downward (i.e., towards the part of the pitcher that is closer to the ground). These glands secrete proteolytic exoenzyme protease, i.e. they have a purely digestive function. On both sides of the lower half of this zone, the cavity of the pitcher has one obliquely located dark red bulge or ridge containing numerous large submerged digestive glands. The upper part of the ridge is especially rich in glands. These glands play a major role in the digestion of trapped insects. The lower part of the ridge, covered with an epidermis with wavy cell walls, is equipped with an exceptionally large number of stomata. These stomata, however, are of an unusual type. Their guard cells have lost the ability to turgor movements, and the stomatal opening is wide open all the time. In essence, these are no longer real stomata. The famous German botanist K. Goebel (1891), who was the first to describe these peculiar structures, called them "water pores", i.e. hydatodes. It is very likely that the lower part of the jug is filled with liquid through these hydatodes, although not all researchers agree with this. The lowest part of the inner surface of the jug is completely devoid of glands.
No less interesting is the structure of the jug lid, which is an important part of the trapping apparatus. On the upper side of the lid, there are once or twice forked radial sections of green tissue. The epidermis of these areas consists of cells with more or less wavy edges and is provided with hairs. This tissue is equipped with both submerged glands that are attractive to insects (attractive) and stomata. On the inside of the lid, it is dark red. The spaces between the green areas are devoid of chlorophyll and stomata, but with glands. Unlike the green areas, the epidermal cells are straight here. To insects, these almost translucent areas appear open. In their attempts to get out of the trap, they, flying into these areas, repel them and plunge into the cavity of the jug. The edges of the operculum are wavy. Crumbly overlapping each other, the epidermal cells of the inner side of the operculum are each elongated into a process that is directed downward towards the base of the operculum. These cells, like the epidermal cells of the collar, with fine striations converging towards the end of the process. Between the epidermal cells there are attractive glands, similar to the glands on the outer side of the operculum. The pitched leaves of the cephalotus are an extremely ingenious insect trap. Three flat ridges running along the pitcher probably make it easier for crawling insects to gain access to the mouth of the pitcher. The variegated color of the jug and the abundance of glands imitate a flower and thus serve as a bait for flying insects. Having been seduced by the secretions of these glands, the insect moves towards the mouth of the jug and approaches its cavity, where, as A.J. Hamilton (1904), who studied the biology of cephalotus in nature, insect long time licks the collar surface before going further down. Once on the inner side of the very smooth and slippery mouth of the urn, it easily slides down and almost inevitably becomes a victim of the cephalotus. The main victims of the cephalotus are ants. Insects are digested both by enzymes secreted by the surface of the jug, and probably also by bacteria. Chitinous remains of insects are found in the urn, which indicates that the glands of the cephalotus do not secrete chitinase.
Darlingtonia
The only species in the genus, called the Californian Darlingtonia - D. californica, grows in the Californian swamps.
(Darlingtonia californica), a perennial herbaceous insectivorous plant of the Sarracene family with a rhizome and a rosette of trap leaves. Flowers are single, 5-membered, yellowish petals with reddish veins, with 15 stamens and 5-celled ovary. The fruit is a capsule. The leaves are jugular, up to 1 m long, on the edge of the leaf there is a dark red bifurcated leaf-like appendage. On the inner surface of the leaf there are glands that secrete nectar that attracts insects. The walls of trap leaves are covered with hairs that allow insects to move only inward: insects die in the liquid secreted by the leaf and decompose under the action of bacteria. Darlingtonia is distributed from northern California to southern Oregon in swampy soils.
Darlingtonia leaves transformed into traps resemble a cobra preparing to attack with a swollen neck. Insects, attracted by the emitted smell, fall into storage traps, from which they can no longer get out. They dissolve in the digestive juices, and the plant receives the necessary nutrients. But this is like an additional dish, the main ones come through root system... Very beautiful yellowish or red-brown flowers on long stems appear in June. It is very difficult to adapt darlingtonia to indoor conditions. Best of all, it takes root in special greenhouse boxes, protected from low temperatures by moss or leaves. Staying in the dark during the dormant period does not harm them. The best substrate for them was ordinary peat.
Heliamphora
Heliamphors are found on the territory of Venezuela, Brazil and Guiana, where they grow on hard-to-reach sandy plateaus, at altitudes of 1000-3000 m above sea level. Heliamphorae are evolutionary relatives of Sarracenia, but they are less common in room culture. The Latin name of the plants can be translated as "marsh jug" (Greek helos - "swamp"). It is curious that this is also one of the local names of the plant. Heliamphor leaves really resemble water vessels with wide open necks in shape. The edges of the sheet are brought together and, as it were, are connected by a well-visible seam. The tip of the leaf has been transformed into a kind of "cap". Its dimensions are small, it closes the entrance to the trap rather symbolically. The cap is brightly colored. She often acts as a visual bait for future victims. Rainwater collects inside the jug. Its inner walls are covered with smooth, downward outgrowths. The insects sitting on them slide down, drown in the liquid of the jug and gradually decompose in it. The genus is considered poorly studied, it includes about eight species, however, their number is likely to increase in the future as a result of additional research.
Nepentes - insidious cups
One of the most amazing inventions of plants is the leaves. Modifying, they can become both delicate petals and sharp dry thorns. Some leaves of climbing plants develop into long, curling tendrils. The flexible stem clings to all kinds of supports. With the help of tendril leaves, the stems of peas, pumpkins, cucumbers and grapes climb upward. The top of the design art can be considered the leaves of the Nepentes trap. These amazing plants are found in warm and humid jungles in Ceylon, Madagascar, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, New Zealand and northern Australia. The ends of the leaves of the Nepenthes turned into a kind of jugs. They are quite large, each contains up to one liter of sour moisture, so the Nepentes try to fix such a jug with antennae on the strong stems of neighboring plants. The neck of the jug is surrounded by large thorns that protect its contents from intruders. The entrance to the jug is closed with a lid. Later, a gap appears between it and the body of the jug, which gradually increases. The lid protects the jug from overflowing with rainwater and at the same time serves as a "landing site" for the main prey of nepentes - flying insects. On the outside of the jug, two toothed outgrowths run from top to bottom, which serve both to support the jug and to guide crawling insects. Attracted by the smell of nectar, they eventually end up inside the jug and usually fall into the liquid inside. The inner walls of the trap are so smooth that even insects, crawling well on vertical glass, cannot climb along them. Occasionally, hummingbirds, small rodents and amphibians become prey for large nepentes. The liquid of the jugs contains digestive acids, in which the prey is gradually digested over several hours. Among predatory plants, nepentes have the largest traps. In the nepentes rajah, the length of the jugs reaches 40 cm! You can even drink from them like from glasses. Popular name Nepentes traps - "monkey cups". Some monkeys actually quench their thirst with nepentes. A new species of giant carnivorous plant has been discovered in the highlands of the central Philippines. Outwardly, the new plant resembles a water lily, and its "jug", with which the plant swallows its victims, is the largest among all carnivorous plants. The plant feeds on small rodents, insects and birds, which will fall into the "mouth" of the new plant. As the researchers later testified, a giant jug grows only on the slopes of Mount Victoria, the plant has not yet been found anywhere else. The new species was named Nepenthes attenboroughii in honor of the world famous British naturalist and TV presenter David Attenborough. Scientists have discovered a giant plant-predator at an altitude of 1,600 meters above sea level. A sample of the plant was taken to Palawan University, where it was named Nepenthes attenboroughii.
Sarracenia
Sarracenia, a genus of plants in the Sarracenia family. Insectivorous perennial grasses with rhizomes up to 25-30 cm long, which grows up to 20-30 years, annually forming rosettes of water-lily leaves (ascidians) up to 75-100 cm long, 5-8 cm in diameter.Leaves are usually with reddish veins (often in the sun completely blush); in sarracenia yellow (S. flava) - yellowish-green with red veins. Flowers are single, large (4-10 cm in diameter), 5-membered; petals are reddish-purple or yellow (Sarracenia yellow). The pistil column at the top is umbrella-shaped, covering the stamens. 10 species, in North America (mainly in the Atlantic states of the USA). The most widespread Sarracenia purpurea (S. purpurea). S. grow mainly in swampy forests and sphagnum bogs. Its other name is "trapping pit". Each leaf of a sarracenia, more precisely a leaf petiole, resembles a bag or jug, narrowed at the top and bottom and swollen in the middle. At the opening leading to the inside of the "jug-bag" is the actual leaf blade with blood-red veins. It resembles a bright umbrella and is perceived more like a flower than a leaf. Actually, this bright appendage performs the function of a flower, attracting unlucky midges and spiders to the trapping "jug bag". In addition, insects are attracted to the inside and a pleasant aroma. Looking into the middle of the "bag", the victim descends deeper and deeper and, finally, falls into the water, with which the Sarracenia traps are filled even in dry weather. There is no way back from the trapping pit: its walls are covered with many smooth scales, each of which ends in a sharp spike facing downward.
A huge amount of any small arthropod living creatures can accumulate in long "jug-bags" of sarracenia, which is gradually digested with the help of a secret produced by the tissues of the walls of the "bag".
Predatory plants- these are some 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 things, but the fact that creatures incapable of movement and any kind of active interaction with their environment can also devour someone, it will seem incredible to many.
They are different from other plants and live in conditions unbearable for most green creatures, which is why they have to be predators.
Why are they doing this?
The reason why predatory plants emerged is simple. They should receive the bulk of the nutrients with the help of the 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 receive them by eating other creatures. This is the only way 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 methods of catching prey. Besides, they have different ways 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 variety, the most prominent representatives carnivorous flora.
Types of carnivorous plants
- It's pretty rare plant, which naturally grows in the south of 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 on various insects, small crustaceans and other river animals.
Their fishing method is quite peculiar.- she does not use her leaves directly, the victim gets into the trap through the crab claw, this is an asymmetrical process, a kind of mini-labyrinth. Once inside, the insect has no chance.
Darlingtonia affects him bright colors the inner side of the trap, which leads to complete disorientation in space and further death.
- In this case, the name speaks for itself. It can be called one of the most common and well-known representatives of carnivorous plants.
Insects and arachnids serve as food for the flycatcher. She 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 trap gradually begin to grow together. The 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 toothed trap leaves makes it a fairly popular decoration of the room.
- ... This plant lives in Asia, its home is tropical forests. Nepentes is referred to as bushy vines. They catch the victim due to the pitcher-shaped appendages on the leaves, which contain a viscous sap, where the victim drowns, and then gives its nutritional components to the plant.
Oiled with wax, trimmed with bristles or spines, the edges of the jugs 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 Nepentes, the smallest of them hunt purely for insects, but large representatives of the genus can also consume small mammals, for example, mice, their jugs are the size of a bottle and hold up to a liter of digestive fluid.
Traps differ not only in size, but also in the shape of the jugs, in some Nepentes they lie on the ground, in others they hang from the leaves like strange fruits.
- It grows on far east Russia and therefore tolerates cold weather well. Dewdrop is small in size and hunts insects mainly during the period of pollination of the flower, although it does not disdain small insects that just accidentally hit 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, she falls into the trap, tightly sticking to the droplets at the ends of these tentacles.
The nutrients contained in the body of the absorbed 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.
- This North American endemic grows in swamps like most other carnivores, but unlike them, also has decorative flowers with a pleasant smell.
Its lower leaves resemble translucent scales, and the trap leaves are elongated in long pipes, up to eighty centimeters in height, speckled with protruding veins.
From above, this pipe is covered by a leaf outgrowth, which prevents water from flowing inside during rain - the Nepentes jugs are covered with a similar "umbrella".
The bright color of the traps and the aroma of the secretions of nectar-bearing glands lure insects to certain death, but the larvae of meat flies and ossfexes are used to living inside the leaves of Sarracenia, taking away part of the prey from the plant.
It is important to note that Sarracenia is easy to care for and can grow outdoors where winters are mild enough for it.
ATTENTION: feeding the Venus flytrap is a spectacular process, but you cannot overfeed the flower, since after digesting the prey, the leaf dies off, and due to the loss of leaves, it can weaken or even die.
ATTENTION: Like any plant of a temperate climate, Rosyanka needs a dormant period in winter. At this time, the pot with the plant must be sent to a cool and dry enough place. Otherwise, it will deplete and die.
NOTE for domestic predatory plants: Californian Darlingtonia, Nepentes, Rosyanka and many others.
Not being directly related to each other, many predatory plants, completely independently of each other, have developed the same methods of survival in unfavorable conditions, on lands poor in nitrogenous compounds, having learned to extract nutrients from other people's bodies. These extraordinary creatures will adorn any flower collection.
Nature has created this world to be very diverse and amazing. This is especially true for plants. She was able to create vegetable world that cannot be seen in a city flower bed or at home on a windowsill are carnivorous plants. These flowers are carnivorous and feed on living flesh. Such plants are located in places where the soil contains almost no nutrients.
These plants catch their prey, then secrete a special juice, which begins to digest the prey. After that, the plant receives all the substances necessary for life.
This plant belongs to insectivorous plants and grows in North America and Texas.
The trapping leaves of this flower are in the shape of a water lily, which is a trap. The leaves form a funnel that rises above the plant like a hood, and does not allow rainwater to enter the water lily, so as not to dilute the digestive juice.
Insects fly for the scent and color that gives off the edge of the flower. They mistake it for nectar, but the sliding surface and the intoxicating substance help the insects get inside. Then they die in the digestive juice.
This plant belongs to other carnivorous plants. Nepentes uses water lily-shaped leaves instead of a trap. Scientists have 135 varieties of this plant, and most of them grow in China and Indonesia.
Most of these plants are long fifteen meter vines, with a very small root system. Antennae, located along the entire length of the stem, form a small vessel that grows rapidly, enlarges and turns into a predatory bowl.
Inside the bowl is a sticky liquid that lures insects. At the bottom of the trap there is a gland that distributes all the nutrients to the plant.
This plant feeds on insects, but there are some subspecies that have larger bowls and can feed on small rodents and even rats.
This plant is rare, as it grows in Northern California, and only in areas with flowing ice water.
The leaves of this plant are bulbous with a hole located under two long and sharp leaves that look like fangs.
This plant does not use its leaves to trap insects, it uses the trap like crab claws. Insects fly to the specks of light that form the canine leaves, and as soon as it gets inside, it begins to wade along the hairs that grow deep into the plant, and can no longer get out.
This plant uses its sticky leaves for hunting. It grows in Asia and America.
Its leaves are very juicy, green or color pink... Each sheet contains two types of cells. One species forms a sticky mucus that attracts insects and keeps them from sweating. And the second type is sessile glands, they form special enzymes that help digest insects.
All the substances that were obtained from insects feed the poor soil on which Zhiryanka grows.
This plant is the most popular and well-known of all carnivorous plants. Its diet usually includes flies and small spiders. This plant has 5-7 leaves, and they are located on a thin and small stem.
The leaves of this plant are divided into two halves, of which the trap consists. The outside of these traps contains a special pigment that secretes a sticky liquid. When the insect hits the liquid, the leaf hairs pick up the signal and the leaf lobes collapse.
The closing speed of the lobes is only 0.1 seconds. On the edge of the leaves there are dense cilia that do not allow the victim to get out. After that, the lobules are tightly closed, thereby forming the stomach, in which the digestive process takes place.
These amazing abilities were awarded by the nature of the plant so that they could survive even in the worst conditions.
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