A flower that eats flies and other insects. carnivorous plants

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 raw meat and egg yolk to gluttonous plants. 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 species of predatory plants are like fly tape, grabbing their 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 predatory plants have special glands that secrete enzymes strong enough to penetrate the hard chitinous shell of insects and get to those hiding underneath. nutrients. 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 for some time been marking wild specimens with safe paint, invisible in normal light but shimmering in ultraviolet light, so that when inspectors find these plants for sale, they can quickly determine whether they come from a greenhouse or a swamp.

Even if poaching can be stopped (which is also doubtful), predator plants will still suffer from many misfortunes. Their habitat is disappearing, making way for 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 amazing ingenuity of evolution, this is a great loss.

There are plants that are very different from the usual "peaceful", harmless flowers and grass. These are predators who have perfectly mastered the art of hunting - in order to receive vital important substances they learned to catch and eat animals. Various predator plants use their technique to lure and eat prey. Many are fascinated by this process, others are struck by the extraordinary appearance carnivorous plants.

Features of predator plants

There are 2 signs by which a predator plant can be distinguished:

It must have a mechanism for capturing prey and killing it. Typically carnivorous plants use leaves to act as traps. To lure the victim, they use bright coloring, smells or special hairs. Also, predator plants have a special system that does not allow the caught animal to get out.

Such plants must be able to digest meat. Some of them have glands in the leaves that secrete digestive enzymes. Other carnivorous plants have bacteria or even insects that process food instead of them.

How did ordinary plants develop such abilities? Scientists suggest that this happened as a result of evolution. Plants that grew in severe nitrogen-deficient conditions needed to look for other sources of nutrients, so they adapted to trap animals.

Most often, carnivorous plants eat a variety of insects, spiders, and small crustaceans, but even birds, lizards, mice, rats, and other small animals can become victims.

Top 5 Fascinating Carnivorous Plant Facts

What are plants that eat insects called?

In fact, the predator plant does not check who its prey is. Some representatives of the species do specialize in catching insects, but, nevertheless, plants will consume everything that comes across to them.

Below are the most unusual, dissimilar predator plants that can surprise and even puzzle.

Nepenthes, also called pitcher or monkey cup, is a genus of carnivorous herbaceous plants, in which there are about 140 species of various shapes and sizes. They grow mainly in Madagascar, South-East Asia and Australia. Favorite habitats are jungle or highlands.

Nepenthes is one of the most popular predator plants for growing at home. It is a shrub with many leaves, among which traps grow in the form of pitchers with a beautiful rim and a kind of lid on long vines.

These jugs are usually brightly colored and function as passive traps. Attracted by variegated flowers or nectar, the victim sits on the mouth of the leaf, then falls along the slippery wax surface into the jug into the watery liquid. The victim is prevented from getting out by descending hairs located on the inner surface of the leaves. It sinks and is digested by special enzymes.

Interesting to know: pitcher traps grow on average up to 10 cm, but this family also has record holders. The largest carnivorous plant is called nepenthes raja. Its water lily reaches a height of 35 cm and has a diameter of 16 cm, which allows it to catch rodents and other small animals.

carnivorous plants able to live in symbiosis with living beings. For example, separate view pitchers are friends with ants. Those cleanse it of the remnants of undigested food, leaving their excrement inside the jug, and the plant feeds on them. Another type of Nepenthes has adapted to feed on the droppings of mountain tupais. These animals eat nectar from water lilies, sitting on them, and immediately relieve their need. Here is such a curious mutual assistance.

This plant, resembling the mouth of a toothed beast, is familiar to almost everyone. Dionea or Venus flytrap is another favorite of indoor gardeners. Home of this original creation the east coast of the United States.

Each dionea contains 4-7 traps ranging in size from 3 to 10 cm. They consist of 2 hinged leaves. There are 14-20 teeth on the edge of the petals. The outer part of the traps is usually green, while the insides have a red pigment that changes with the age of the Venus flytrap.

When an insect or leaf-crawling spider contacts the hairs, the trap prepares to close, but it only snaps into place if a second contact occurs within about 20 seconds of the first contact. Such a mechanism prevents the useless capture of non-living objects without nutritional value. Also, the flycatcher will only start digesting food after 5 extra stimuli to make sure a live creature has been caught.

The prey continues to struggle inside the trap, causing its leaves to shrink tighter. The trap turns into a stomach, digestion begins for 10 days. Then the petals open again.

An interesting fact: in America, a medicine is being prepared from a Venus flytrap that claims to treat HIV and Crohn's disease.

Aldrovanda, which belongs to the same family, hunts like a Venus flytrap. Aldrovanda grows underwater in lakes, looks like algae. She also has many bivalve traps, only small in size. With them, she catches small underwater inhabitants. Unlike Dionea, Aldrovanda can be found almost all over the world. In Russia, it also exists, but is listed in the Red Book.

For some, it will be a discovery that carnivorous plants grow not only in the wild jungle. For example, pemphigus lives in fresh water and wet soil on every continent except Antarctica. It is an algae without a root system. Bladderwort is often used in the aquarium trade.

These carnivores capture small organisms with a unique technique. Utricularia have a network of bubble-like traps. To catch prey, pemphigus pumps water out of these bubbles, creating negative pressure. As soon as some insect comes into contact with the bristles on the surface of the trap, the mechanism works, and it is instantly sucked into the bubble, like a vacuum cleaner!

Interesting to know: pemphigus is considered the fastest in the list of carnivorous plants.

Round-leaved sundew is found throughout North America, Korea, and Japan. This predatory flower is called so for a reason. Its stems are covered with many tendrils with dew-like droplets. The leaves of most types of sundew are completely small size- 1 cm, and the dewdrops on them are so tiny that you cannot see them with the naked eye.

Many believe that drosera traps are flowers, but in fact they are modified leaves.

The method of catching animals in this carnivorous plant differs from all previous ones. Sundew catches prey like duct tape for flies. Drops on the leaves are filled with a sweet substance that attracts animals. It is also a super powerful glue with paralytic properties. It is worth touching an insect, and there is little chance of salvation!

Drosera begins to close around its prey, braiding it with its hairs, wrapping it into a ball and moving it to the center of the sheets. There are glands that secrete digestive enzymes. Thus, the plant eats animal food.

Few would suspect such a cute flower of carnivory, but Byblis is indeed predatory. Byblis grows in Western Australia. Their leaves resemble thin, long blades of grass dotted with small hairs and droplets of liquid. This mucus shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow, for which the flower is also called rainbow.

Byblis height, on average, is 25-50 cm, although there are giant species of about 70 cm. Dozens of purple or pink flowers making the plant even more beautiful and unique.

The appearance and method of capturing the prey of the biblis makes it similar to the sundew, although they are completely from different families, and live in different areas. The victim is attracted by droplets of liquid, she sits on a sheet and immediately sticks “tightly”. Gradually, the plant completely envelops the caught animal with mucus, softening it. Another type of byblis gland secretes digestive enzymes that slowly digest prey. By the way, it often feeds on snails, frogs or insects.

The darlingtonia leaf is designed in such a way as to lure prey by deception. It becomes a variety of insects, more often - flies. The trap has a bizarre shape, resembling a cobra with an open hood, and 2 antennae have a semblance of fangs.

The glands on the leaves secrete sweet nectar, and there are even more of them inside the hood, thanks to which the insects themselves crawl there. From the inside, the leaf tissue has translucent areas, which the victim takes for exits. She tries to fly through them, but flies even further.

To make it harder for the victim to escape, the inside of the Darlingtonia leaves are coated with a waxy substance. The insect has nothing to cling to, so it is very likely to fall into lower part traps filled with liquid.

There, its soft parts are digested and converted into nitrogen compounds. Darlingtonia cannot digest the solid remains of insects, and they remain inside.

This rare view carnivorous plants grows in Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and Guyana. Brocchinia leaves form a bowl for storing water. Their walls reflect ultraviolet light, which attracts insects. In addition, the water in the bowl gives off a sweet smell. The prey crawls inside and eventually drowns there. Digestion occurs with the help of digestive enzymes and bacteria.

Although some of the creatures described are fearsome, even the most predatory plant in the world will not harm a person. In fact, they are delicate and fragile. As a result of human activities, more than one species has already died, and the rest are on the verge of extinction. Therefore, we recommend visiting one of the reserves, where you can see these predators live before they disappear!

Types of carnivorous plants

Hello! Do you know a plant that eats flies? 🙂 Today I decided to move a little away from the financial topic, from making money on the Internet and write generally on the left topic. Still, food for the mind should be varied!

A plant that eats flies and what is it called ?!

In fact, there are quite a few such herbs, but I have only heard of two. This is Venus Flytrap and Sundew! Of course, they are classified as predators. Yes, from various films I saw how they eat not only midges, but even humans. But it is necessary that the flower be large or even gigantic in size.

Venus flytrap

Usually this flower grows in peat bogs. But if you wish, you can plant it at home in ordinary land covered with moss! By the way, they sell the seeds of these flowers. If you wish, you can order them through any online store!
Oddly enough, but this plant is listed in the Red Book. He has another name - Dionea. Fortunately, they grow no more than 15 centimeters in height! Caught flies, slugs and other insects, it digests them within 5 - 10 days! And then he starts his hunt again!

See interesting video about itpredator

Fly Eater - Sundew

So, the next fly-eating flower is the Sundew!

Like the previous flower, it is a predator and is able to eat flies without any pity! Rosyanka is distributed almost all over the world. In England it was called sun dew. In general, she received such a name, because on her hairs there are droplets in the form of dew. These droplets just attract flies and other insects.
On the this moment many collect similar flowers from all over the world and collect them. I would probably still get a similar flower. But that's in the future! 🙂
It is even used in folk medicine, for example, from diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis, some colds and inflammatory diseases.

Well now short video about this plant!

So you just learned about the plant that eats flies! That's all! Good luck!

Did you know that there are several hundred carnivorous plants in the world? No, they are not as scary as in the American movie Little Shop of Horrors. Such flowers feed on insects, tadpoles and even frogs and rats. Interestingly, some predatory plants have long established themselves as useful pets. They claim that home flower, which eats insects, helps fight pests such as mosquitoes, flies, and spiders.

Why did plants switch to animal food?

An insect-eating plant has evolved its diet not from a good life. All species of these carnivores grow on soils with a lack of nitrogen and other useful substances. It is very difficult for them to survive on sandy soils or peat, so some species have adapted to life due to the ability to absorb animal protein. It is animal food that is able to completely renew the reserves of nitrogen and minerals.

Plants use various traps to catch prey. In addition, all plant predators are distinguished by their bright color and attractive smell, which are associated by insects with nectar-bearing flowers. But do not forget that animal food is only "vitamins" for plants, and the main food for them is photosynthesis.

Varieties of carnivorous plants

To date, scientists have described about 500 species of carnivorous plants that belong to 19 families. It can be concluded that the evolutionary development of these groups of organisms occurred in parallel and independently.

The most famous plants that eat insects are:

• sarracenia;
• genlisea;
• darlingtonia;
• pemphigus;
• zhiryanka;
• sundew;
• biblis;
• aldrovanda vesicular;
• Venus flytrap.

An interesting fact: flycatchers have the Latin name muscipula, which in translation into Russian does not mean “flycatcher”, but “mousetrap”.

The prevalence of entomophagous plants

Carnivorous plants are not only exotic representatives of the biosphere. They are found everywhere - from the equator to the Arctic. Most often they can be found in damp places, especially in swamps. Most of the species recorded in the southwestern part of Australia. Some species are eurybionts and grow in many biocenoses. The range of other species is more limited - for example, the Venus flytrap is found naturally only in South and North Carolina.

What species grow in Russia

In Russia, there are 13 species of carnivorous plants from 4 genera. The genus Rosyanka is represented by two species: common sundew and English sundew. They grow mainly in sphagnum bogs. Aldrovanda vesicularis found both in the European part Russian Federation, and in the Far East and the Caucasus.

The genus Pemphigus in Russia is represented by four species, the most common of which is Pemphigus vulgaris. These are aquatic plants that differ in their growth rate. They are found in shallow waters throughout Russia (with the exception of the Far North). Also in our area you can meet representatives of the Zhiryanka genus, which grow in swamps, banks of streams, and some - on trees and mosses.

Diet of carnivorous flowers

Most carnivorous plants (sunflowers, sarracenia, nepenthes) feed on insects. The diet of aquatic representatives, such as aldrovands or pemphigus, is predominantly small crustaceans. There are also species that prey on larger prey: fish fry, newts, toads and reptiles. One of the largest representatives of predators, Nepenthes Raffles and Nepenthes Raja feed not only on insects, but also on mammals such as mice and rats.

Types of Trapping Organs

Predators catch their prey with the help of traps, which, depending on the species, are of several types:

• pitcher leaves. This design has a lid, and inside it is filled with water (nepentes, darlingtonia);
• trap leaves. The modified leaf consists of two flaps with teeth on the edges. When the insect is inside, the valves close (Venus flytrap);
• sticky leaves. On the leaf plates there are special hairs that secrete a sticky secret that attracts insects (dew, oilseed);
• suction traps. Water, together with the victim under pressure, is sucked into a special vial (pemphigus);
• crab claw traps. Victims easily fall into them, but cannot get out because of the hairs growing forward in a spiral (genlisey).

At home, you can keep the following types of carnivorous plants:

• venus flytrap;
• all types of sundews;
• tropical butterworts;
• sarracenia;
• dwarf nepenthes.

In Russia, the most popular indoor predator is the Venus flytrap. A flower pot should be kept on a well-lit windowsill or on a table with artificial lighting. The air temperature in the room should be between 18–25 °C in summer and 10–13 °C in winter. Since the flycatcher - moisture-loving plant, the soil in the pot should be constantly moistened. Water the plant with clean rain or melt water.

Along with plants that feed on minerals from the soil, there are also carnivorous or predatory plants in the world that feed on insects (mainly flies and midges). Many consider a flower that eats flies to be almost a horror movie monster. But in fact, these are simple living organisms, which nature forced to adapt themselves to the conditions of life.

Carnivorous plants are forced to be carnivorous due to the conditions of their environment.

Reason for the appearance

Flowers that eat flies did not immediately appear in the form we see them now. They evolved due to a lack of nutrients and nitrogen in the soil. They needed something to eat, and so they adapted to eat animal protein obtained from insects. He completely replaced them with the necessary minerals and nitrogen.

To capture its prey, the plant uses unusual traps. With a bright color and a sweet, nectar-like scent, it attracts insects, which soon turn out to be its dinner.

Types of insectivorous flowers

Biologists have counted about 630 species of carnivorous plants from 19 families.

Most famous flowers who catch and eat flies:

• Venus flytrap;
• zhiryanka;
• sundew;
• slipway;
• genlisea;
• sarracenia;

Video description of predator plants:

The Venus flytrap, or dionea, is the most recognizable insect-eating flower. He is a favorite on the windowsill of many flower growers. This flower is native to North America. Its main habitat is swamps, but it can easily adapt to room conditions. The leaves of the flycatcher have teeth along the edges. As soon as the insect lands in the "mouth" of the flower, its blades immediately slam shut, like the mouth of a predator. The digestion process takes place hidden within 10 days. Then the leaf opens, gets rid of the empty shell and waits for the next prey.

Read on this topic:

Zhiryanka is considered one of the most beautiful plants that eats flies. It got its name from the mucus that covers the leaves. The surface acquires a shine, as if it is greased. Zhiryanka emits a sweet aroma that attracts insects. The leaves completely cover the digestive glands that digest the prey.

Despite the predation, Zhiryanka is one of the most beautiful plants.

The most common flower that catches flies is the sundew. Grows in mountains, swamps and sandstones. The leaves have long hairs that secrete a sweet, fragrant, dew-like liquid. When a fly touches a viscous syrup, the leaf of the flower curls up and digests the insect. A large sundew can even catch a dragonfly. On the territory of Russia, sundew English and round-leaved sundew are common.

Stapelia - another indoor plant that eats flies. It is often confused with a cactus, with which it has nothing to do. Stapelia flowers emit a smell of rotten meat, which attracts flies. They lay eggs in flowers. But the flower lives only for a day, which means that the larvae die with it, without having time to hatch.

Genlisee flower looks very cute and gentle. But this is only at first glance. It has hollow tubes containing a fragrant and sticky liquid that attracts insects. Climbing into the tube, the insect cannot get back and dies on the spot. A flower grows in Central and South America as well as in Africa and Madagascar.

Genlisea looks like a gentle and safe plant but it's deceptive

Sarracenia is another flower that eats flies. Its name is unusual. This funnel-shaped plant came from North America and is well-established in Russia as a houseplant that eats flies. The sarracenia funnel is filled with sweet nectar, and its walls are very slippery.

When a fly climbs into a flower to feast on it, it can no longer get out and dies under the influence of digestive enzymes.

plant range

Despite their exoticism, insectivorous plants are found throughout the Earth. Most often these are swamps and areas with high humidity. The range of many species is limited to South and North Carolina (for example, the Venus flytrap), others grow only in Australia. In Russia, carnivorous plants are represented by 13 species, among which the most famous are sundew, oilwort and pemphigus. They grow in the European part, in the Caucasus and the Far East. Many species can be found not only in swampy areas, but also along the banks of rivers, lakes, on trees and stumps.

Nutrition of carnivorous plants

Most feed on insects (these are sarracenia, sundews, nepenthes). But aquatic representatives, such as pemphigus, consume even small crustaceans.

There are larger representatives of carnivorous plants, whose diet includes toads, fish fry, newts, lizards. So, mice and rats sometimes become prey for Nepenthes.

Sundew is an insect-eating species.

Home keeping conditions

AT room conditions the following carnivorous flowers can be kept:

• tropical buttermilk;
• sundew;
• Venus flytrap;
• sarracenia.

A pot with a predatory flower is best kept in a well-lit place. It can be a window sill or artificial lighting (in winter, with a lack of sunlight). Such flowers love moist soil, so you need to avoid drought and water them in time with melted, slightly acidic or neutral water. Salts in tap water can kill the plant. Carnivorous flowers need a moderate temperature: + 15 ... + 30 ° C in summer and + 10 ... + 14 ° C in winter.

Plant propagation

Insectivorous plants are propagated by dividing the bush or cuttings, the flowers themselves prefer pollination. In nature, insects help them, and at home you have to get used to manually transferring pollen from stamens to pistil. Flowering in many species occurs at the end of spring.

In nature, these flowers reproduce by pollination, but cuttings are also possible at home.

winter care

In winter, carnivorous plants stop growing and hibernate. During this time, the flower is gaining strength for further growth and flowering. During this period, you need to continue to care for the plant, removing dried leaves and watering.

Pest protection

Plants are prone to infestation by aphids and earthworms, which can cause great harm to them. Help to cope special means with insecticides. You should beware of mold, which appears due to waterlogging of the soil. Ventilation and removal of fallen leaves will help prevent infection of the plant.

Useful video for caring for a carnivorous plant: