Unusual representatives of the flora of our planet - carnivorous plants: photos, types and descriptions. Carnivorous plants and their description

In the plant kingdom, you can find amazing specimens that not only captivate the eye, but also amaze with their way of life. One of the secrets of the nature of the Earth are carnivorous plants.

We all know from childhood that flowers and grass are food for animals, but it turns out that the opposite happens. Insectivores, which are also called carnivores, are a direct confirmation of this. carnivorous plants- These are those living organisms that receive part or most of the useful substances (but not energy) from the capture and consumption of animals or protozoa, usually arthropods. Carnivorous representatives of the flora are adapted to grow in places with a thin layer fertile soil or low amounts of nitrogen, such as acid marshes and rock outcrops. Charles Darwin wrote his Insectivorous Plants, the first known treatise on carnivorous flora, in 1875. This book was a turning point in the research of these unusual representatives. flora.

How and what do carnivorous plants eat?

Carnivorous plants have leaves adapted to trap small animals, most commonly insects. That is why they are also called insectivores. Caught in such a flower in a "trap", an invertebrate arthropod dissolves in its digestive juice. As a result, the living organism of a predator plant receives the nutrients necessary for a full-fledged existence. It should be noted that enzymes dissolve soft tissue insect. They cannot “digest” skeletons or exoskeletons, so numerous remains of their victims accumulate inside some flowers.

Some flowers can absorb the juices of dead animals through the surface of the leaves. However, only true carnivorous representatives of the flora have the ability to receive nutrients from animals, first pulling them towards him in order to capture, and then digest and assimilate the nutritious juices of the caught victim. This behavior is called the carnivorous syndrome.

Five main mechanisms for catching prey have been found in predator plants, which do not depend on the plant belonging to a particular family:

Jar-shaped containers - capture prey with a rolled leaf that contains a mixture of digestive enzymes or colonies of bacteria.
Traps in the form of leaves covered with sticky mucus.
Quickly collapsing leaves.
Catchers in the form of a vacuum bubble that sucks the victim.
Crab claw-like traps, also known as eel traps, force the prey to move toward the digestive organ with hair pointing inwards.

These traps can be active or passive, depending on whether the movement is conducive to capturing the prey.

The insectivorous flowers are relatively small in size, and the largest animal ever captured by one of these flowers turned out to be a small rat. It is known that more than 150 various types insects have been identified as prey for such plants, but also arachnids (spiders and mites), mollusks (snails and slugs), earthworms, and small vertebrates (small fish, amphibians, reptiles, rodents, and birds) are potential prey.

Where do carnivorous plants grow?

Carnivorous flowers are found in almost all ecosystems, their distribution area is soil poor in nutrients and minerals. That is, acidic, without nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These representatives of the flora can be seen on every continent except Antarctica. Predatory plants are especially numerous in North America, South-East Asia and Australia.

Carnivorous plants usually prefer to settle in damp places, which, moreover, should be open and sunny. They do not like competition, so you can meet them where other flowers and herbs do not do well.

Insectivorous flowers can be found in wet grasslands in the southeastern United States or in peat bogs in northern North America and Eurasia. Some of them grow in the still waters of ponds and ditches around the world. Others are on wet, rocky cliffs or on wet sand. Often these representatives of the flora are found in places where fires periodically occur, which also helps to reduce competition.

Many inquisitive botanists ask the question: where does Rosyanka live? Or where does the Flycatcher grow? Answering them, we note that although carnivorous plants are scattered around the world, in one place - the Green Swamp Reserve (Green Swamp), in the southeastern part of North Carolina, you can meet several representatives of the unique predatory flora at once. In particular, four species of the genus Sarracenia (Sarracenia), the same number of species of the genus Rosyanka (Drosera), ten species of the genus Pemphigus (Utricularia), three species of the genus Zhiryanka (Pinguicula) and one Venus flytrap (Dionaea) grow here at once.

Features and types of carnivorous plants

It is known that carnivorous flowers can exist without preying on insects. However, biologists believe that useful material obtained through predation help them grow faster and produce more seeds. As a result, they become more persistent and can spread to new areas. There is also a plant that only kills insects, but does not "eat" them. This is the Cape pig (Plumbago auriculata).

All carnivorous flowers are divided into:

actively catching, with sensitive hairs and moving parts. This includes the Venus flytrap.
passively catching, which in turn come with mucous and sticky secretions on the foliage, and with traps - bubbles, jugs, etc. Sarracenia and Nepenthes are examples here.

Many species of flora have colored leaves that are attractive to insects, and also secrete sweet nectar. In total, 630 species of such insectivorous multicellular organisms are known to science, the most prominent representatives are:

sundew- one of the largest carnivorous plants. Distributed on all continents except Antarctica. Reaches 1 meter in height and lives up to 50 years. Sticky moving tentacles serve as a trap.
Venus flytrap- has a trap with snaps that close around the prey when it touches one of the sensitive hairs.
zhiryanka most widespread in the North and South America, Europe and Asia. Zhiryanka is characterized by rich green or pink foliage. It produces mucus that acts like glue on insects.
pemphigus found in water bodies and in moist soil on almost all continents except Antarctica. This is the only representative of the flora, in which the bubbles serve to catch the victim.
nepenthes grows in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Seychelles, India, Australia, Sumatra and Borneo. Nepenthes is a vine 10-15 meters high. It has water lily leaves to catch insects. These "vessels" contain a liquid in which the caught bugs die. The largest Nepenthes are capable of catching and absorbing even small mammals (mice, rats).
genlisea spread in South and Central America, as well as in Africa. She is armed with a "crab claw". It is easy to get into such a “claw”, but it is almost impossible to get out because of the hairs growing at the entrance that hold the prey. Genlisea is unusual in its leaves: the above-ground foliage carries out photosynthesis, but under the soil, the underground leaves, in the form of a spiral, catch and digest the simplest microorganisms.

carnivorous plants long time were the subject of public interest. Representatives of the flora are featured in a number of books, films, television series and video games. These are generally fictional depictions that include exaggerated characteristics such as being huge or possessing abilities that go beyond reality, and can be seen as a kind of artistic interpretation. Two of the most famous examples of fictional carnivorous flowers in popular culture are the 1960s black comedy " Small shop horror" and triffids in the film "The Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham.

Nature has created this world very diverse and amazing. This is especially true for plants. She was able to create a plant world that cannot be seen in a city flower bed or at home on a windowsill - these 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 that 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 shaped like 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 get inside the water lily, so as not to dilute the digestive juice.

Insects fly to the smell and color that highlights the edge of the flower. They take it for nectar, but the slippery surface and the intoxicating substance help the insects get inside. Then they die in the digestive juice.

This plant belongs to other carnivorous plants. Nepenthes 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. The tendrils, located along the entire length of the stem, form a small vessel that grows rapidly, increases and turns into a predatory bowl.

Inside the bowl is a sticky liquid that attracts insects. At the bottom of the trap is a gland that distributes all the nutrients throughout the plant.

This type of 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 places with flowing ice water.

The leaves of this plant are bulbous in shape with a hole located under two long and sharp leaves that look like fangs.

This plant does not use its leaves to catch insects, it uses a trap like crab claws. Insects fly to the specks of light that form the fangs of the leaves, and as soon as it gets inside, it begins to make its way along the hairs that grow deep into the plant, and can no longer get out.

This plant uses its sticky leaves. It grows in Asia and America.

Its leaves are very juicy, green or color pink. Each leaf contains two types of cells. One species forms a sticky mucus that attracts insects and does not release them afterwards. 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 releases a sticky liquid. When the insect hits the liquid, the leaf hairs pick up the signal and the leaf lobes collapse.

The share closing speed is only 0.1 second. Along the edge of the leaves are dense cilia that do not allow the victim to get out. After that, the lobules tightly close, 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 can survive even in the worst conditions.

10 most dangerous carnivorous plants video

Nepenthes

The main difference between tropical pitchers of the genus Nepenthes and other carnivorous plants is the size: the "jug" of this plant can reach a length of more than 30 cm, it is ideal for capturing and digesting not only insects, but also small lizards, amphibians and even mammals. (The doomed animals are attracted to the plant's sweet smell, and once they're in the jar, the Nepenthes begin to digest them, a process that can take up to two months!) There are about 150 species of Nepenthes scattered around the eastern hemisphere; jugs of some plants are used by monkeys as drinking cups (after all, these animals are too big to be in the wrong place in the food chain).

darlingtonia

Darlingtonia is a rare carnivorous plant that grows in the cold waters of the swamps of Oregon and northern California. This is a truly diabolical plant: it not only lures insects into its jar thanks to its sweet aroma, but it has numerous false "exits" in it, because of which its doomed victims make unsuccessful attempts to get out.

Ironically, naturalists have yet to identify the natural pollinators of Darlingtonia; it is known that a certain type of insect collects the pollen of this flower and remains unharmed, but it is not yet known which one.

stylidium

It is still unclear whether the plants of the genus Stylidium are truly carnivorous, or simply trying to protect themselves from pesky insects. Some species are equipped with sticky hairs that capture small insects that have nothing to do with the pollination process, and their leaves secrete digestive enzymes that can slowly dissolve unfortunate victims. Further research is needed to elucidate the significance of consumed insects for the life of the stylidium.

Rosolist

Rosolith grows in nutrient-poor soils along the coasts of Spain, Portugal and Morocco, so it supplements its diet with rare insects. Like many of the other carnivorous plants on this list, roseweed attracts insects with its sweet scent; its leaves contain a sticky slimy substance that does not allow the victim to move, and then with the help of digestive enzymes, the unfortunate insects slowly dissolve and the plant receives the necessary nutrients.

Roridula

From South Africa, roridula is a carnivorous plant, although it cannot actually digest insects captured by sticky hairs. The plant leaves this task to the blind bugs of the species Pameridea roridulae with which it has a symbiotic relationship. What does Roridula get in return? Bed bug waste is an excellent fertilizer.

By the way, in the Baltic region of Europe, fossils of the roridula, 40 million years old, were discovered, which is evidence of more widespread of this species during the Cenozoic era, relative to the current range.

Zhiryanka

The plant got its name because of the wide leaves with an oily coating. This carnivorous plant is native to Eurasia and North, South, and Central America. Victims of fatworm sink into sticky mucus and are slowly dissolved by digestive enzymes. If the insects try to move, the leaves begin to slowly curl up, while the sticky mucus dissolves the proteins of the prey.

Genlisey

Unlike other carnivorous plants on this list, the genlisea's diet likely consists of protozoa and other microscopic organisms, which it attracts and eats using specialized leaves that grow underground. These underground leaves are long, light, and root-like in appearance, but the plant also has regular green leaves that are above ground and are involved in the process. Genlisea is distributed in the regions of Africa, Central and South America.

Venus flytrap

Is another carnivorous plant: maybe not the largest, but certainly the most famous in the family Droseraceae. It is quite small (no more than 15 cm long) and its sticky "trap" is the size of a matchbox.

Interesting! The Venus flytrap, in order to reduce false slams due to falling leaves and pieces of debris, has developed a unique trap triggering mechanism: it only slams when two different inner hairs touch for 20 seconds.

Aldrovanda vesicularis

Aldrovanda vesiculosus is an aquatic version of the flycatcher, has no roots, floats on the surface of lakes and lures animals into its little traps. The trap of this plant-predator is capable of slamming shut in 1/100 of a second. Aldrovanda and the Venus flytrap have a common ancestor - a carnivorous plant that lives during the Cenozoic era.

Cephalot

The cephalot attracts insects with its sweet scent and then lures them into a jug where the unfortunate prey is slowly digested. To further confuse the prey, the lids of these jars look like translucent cages that give the prey hope to get out of them.

Unusually, the cephalot is related to flowering plants (eg, apple and oak trees), which is not common with other carnivorous plants.

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Among the representatives of the plant world, there are specimens that prefer not only carbon dioxide and water, but also insects and small animals. These are predatory plants, forced to eat like this because of the poverty of the soil where they grow. Being carnivorous, they secrete a secret similar to digestive juice, prey on arthropods and insects, dissolve them for a certain time and thus obtain the substances necessary for life. Such heterotrophic nutrition is the only way to survive in the specific climatic conditions that give them their name.

The most popular representatives of this plant world are grown as houseplants, using to control small insects at home.

The described plants are characterized by several types of traps for catching prey, while they do not belong to plant families:

the use of leaves resembling the shape of a jug;
leaves forming the shape of a trap;
sticky leaves and sweet secret;
drag traps;
crab claw traps.

The most popular predator is the sarracenia, or, as it is called correctly, the North American insectivore. Such plants grow on the east and south coasts of North America in southeastern Canada. The leaves are shaped like a water lily and serve as a trap for insects. This is a kind of funnel, the edges of which open in the form of a hood. It protects the opening of the plant, where enzymes and juices responsible for the digestion of food are produced, from moisture. At the edges of the flower, a special secret is produced, which, with its color and aroma, “beckons” representatives of the fauna. Sitting on the edge, insects slide into the flower, intoxicated with narcotic substances, plants, where they dissolve with the help of enzymes.

Birds sometimes use sarracenia as a feeder, taking out undigested mosquitoes and flies from it. It is also grown on home windowsills. The bright raspberry color of sarracenia will add variety to the abundance of flowers, decorate any interior and help get rid of annoying insects.

These carnivorous plants also have water lily shaped leaves which act as a trap. They grow in the tropics on the territory of Eurasia, Africa, Australia and islands located in this climatic zone. The second name of this plant is "monkey cup". It was obtained during the observation of primates who drank rainwater from these flowers.

About 200 are known, most of them are high lianas, reaching a length of about 10-15 meters. Growing them at home is not very convenient, but if you choose a greenhouse with a warm climate as their place of residence, they will take root well. On the stem are leaves with a small tendril protruding from the tip, at the end of which a vessel is formed. It becomes wider at the ends, forming a small bowl. This bowl collects the liquid synthesized by the Nepenthes, which can be sticky or watery, depending on the variety of flower. Insects drown in it, and, dissolving, form the food of nepenthes. In addition to small arthropods, some representatives of this flower also use small mammals as food.

Rosyanka and Zhiryanka

Another large representative of carnivorous plants, with about 194 species. lives on all continents, except permafrost, and feels good in all climatic conditions. These carnivorous plants live for a very long time - about 50 years. Plants feed on moving glandular tentacles ending in a sticky and sweet secret. Sitting on a sweet leaf, the insect sticks, and the tentacles slowly but surely make it move towards the trap. Here, special glands absorb the insect and digest it. Sundews are used as houseplants to control small insects.

In the same way, the butterfly works, using sticky leaves to lure and eat insects. About 80 representatives of this species of carnivores are known; they grow in soils poor in minerals and salts on the American continents, in Europe and Asia. The bright green or pink leaves of the flower have special cells that produce sticky mucus. Spreading over the surface in the form of drops, it turns it into Velcro, in which the paws of insects get stuck. Other cells produce enzymes that break down food. Zhiryanka also feels great among houseplants, blooming in the summer season.

The most popular indoor carnivorous plants in our country are flycatchers. In addition to flies, midges and mosquitoes, the nutrition of this plant is enriched with spiders and ants. This small flower feeling good at home flower pots and our climatic conditions. It has a short stem that hides underground, and four to seven leaves crowned with a head. The head consists of two plates, outwardly resembling a heart. The plates are slightly concave and long, with cilia along the edges. They form a trap. The inner surface of the heads produces a bright scarlet pigment, which synthesizes mucus and is a bait.

When an insect lands on a leaf, it touches the sensory hairs covering the tentacles, and they snap shut abruptly. This happens in a tenth of a second, so a careless fly has no chance of escaping. Cilia, quite hard and sharp, securely hold the victim. The leaves of the flower begin to grow, connecting at the edges and forming a stomach in which enzymes break down the prey.

Enough developed plant capable of distinguishing living flesh from non-living. If, instead of an insect, the sensors are irritated with a foreign object, it will reflexively close its head, but after a few seconds it will open again.

Genlisea and Darlingtonia Californian

Genlisea lives in wet conditions subtropical climate and not suitable for home use. This is a low grass with bright - yellow flowers and a claw trap. The exit from it is closed by small hairs growing towards the edges or in a spiral. The leaves located above the ground level are involved in the process of photosynthesis, and the underground ones serve to feed the simplest microorganisms with bacteria. In addition, underground leaves absorb moisture and perform fixing functions, because. Genlisea has no roots. The leaves form hollow spiral tubes into which microbes enter. As houseplants, it is not customary to grow a genlisee.

In the same swampy conditions, near natural springs with clean water, Darlingtonia also grows. This is a fairly rare plant that has chosen northern California as its habitat. Its leaves are bulb-shaped: a swollen ball-shaped cavity and two sharp leaves resembling drooping fangs. But although the leaves are trapping, the flower itself is used as a trap in the form of a claw. Rays of light break through the plant, which deceive the insects, forcing them to move inward. Movement occurs along thin villi that grow towards the core and prevent return.

Pemphigus and Byblis

Pemphigus is a very common carnivorous plant that grows in conditions high humidity in all parts of the world except Antarctica. Only this representative of carnivores has a trap - a bubble. These bubbles have different sizes, from 0.2 mm to 1.2 cm in diameter. Small bubbles are designed to catch the simplest organisms, and large ones are for larger prey. Sometimes water fleas or even tadpoles get into them. Hunting happens very quickly: when the prey is close to the bubble, it opens and sharply draws in the prey and water. If you get pemphigus like home plant, it is better to land it near an artificial reservoir.

Byblis is better known as the rainbow plant. Australia is considered the birthplace of this carnivorous representative of the flora, and the mucus that covers the leaves and shimmers in the sun gave it its name. Outwardly, the biblis is similar to the sundew. The flower has leaves with a round section, they are elongated, cone-shaped towards the end. They are completely covered with a slimy secret that attracts prey to the leaves and tentacles. These are wonderful indoor plants that feel comfortable at home.

Video Predatory plants

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