How Do Carnivorous Plants Catch Insects?

A detailed look at nature’s creations can leave you completely amused. Amid diverse other creations of nature are carnivorous plants. Unlike most plants that use sunlight to make their food, carnivorous plants trap insects and other organisms for their food. Different carnivorous plants use different methods to catch their prey.

One of the common trapping mechanism used by countless carnivorous plants is the flypaper trapping mechanism. Here in the plant secretes a glue like substance through their mucilage glands. So, as quickly as an insect sits on the plant, it is surrounded. Plants like sundew plants and butterworts use this trapping mechanism to catch insects. Insects like flies, mosquitoes and fungus gnats can be easily caught using this mechanism.

Certain carnivorous plants use trapping mechanisms that seem like pitchers to capture insects as well as bigger organisms. They have pitcher like structures which can trap larger organisms such as rats and rodents. There’s a long chamber that leads to the pitcher and when an organism sits on the plant, it slides down this chamber into the pitcher. These acid filled pitchers then digest the animal without any problems at all.

Snap trap mechanism is another common trapping mechanism utilised by many meat eating plants. Here in, the plants open their leaves and wait for any organism to settle down. As quickly as an organism sits on the leaves, it closes on its own and the organism is besieged. The leaves of the plant remain closed until the catch is fully digested. Plants like Venus Flytrap and Waterwheel make use of this catching method to get their food.

The Lobster Pot Trap is one of the more uncommon trapping techniques used by carnivorous plants. These plants offer simple access within to their prey but don’t provide them with an exit. They’re pointed towards a particular direction which further, tempt the insects into entering them. However, once inside, they are not able to find a way out and are surrounded there. This particular trapping mechanism is most common to aquatic plants eg the Corkscrew or the Genlisea plant.

There are numerous plants which can not be absolutely apparently carnivores. They are on the fringe of being carnivorous. It is because unlike the real carnivorous plants, these plants don’t digest and consume the catch. These plants only absorb and extract the nutriments out of their catch. After doing so they set free the trapped prey. Some plants that follow such trapping mechanism to great extent are Ibicella lutea and catopsis barteroniana.

These wonders of nature are more than fascinating with their carnivorous traits. In the ultimate analysis, it just proves how versatile and unique Mother Nature’s creations really are.

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