Carnivorous plants obtain nutrients by trapping and digesting prey, mostly insects. They have evolved diverse trapping mechanisms and are found around the world, especially in nutrient-poor bog environments. Major types of carnivorous plants include pitcher plants, which use pitfall traps formed by modified leaf structures; sundews, which use sticky tentacles on leaves; and Venus flytraps, whose leaves can rapidly close to trap prey.

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CARNIVOROUS PLANTS
特色:
What is a carnivorous plant?
To be considered canivorous, a plant must do the following:
1) attract prey,
2) trap prey,
3) digest prey,
Carnivorous plants are found in various parts of the world.
1. 生長地: Habitats range from dry, almost desert conditions to
standing or slowly f lowing water. Altitudes extend from near sea level
to about 9,000 feet
2. What do they eat? Capable of capturing and digesting insects and
other very small animals.
3. Carnivorous plants do not pose any threat to man, but we are
threatening their existence.
4. it is well known that many of the carnivorous plants grow best in
swamps or bogs where available nitrogen is scarce.
Pitcher plants:
1. Native to the bogs and swamps of Eastern North America,
2. they have hollow, tubular leaves which form urn, or trumpet-shaped
receptacles in which insects are captured.
3. The colors plus the nectar the plant produces attract insects to an
opening at the top with a very slippery lip.
4. When insects crawl over the lip, they slide into the receptacle which
contains water. It is difficult if not impossible for the insects to crawl
out because the side walls of the pitcher are lined with stiff, sharp
hairs, all pointing downwards.
5. Ants form a large part of the pitcher plant's prey although larger
victims such as flies, wasps, crickets and even spiders are occasionally
caught.

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Sundews (Drosera spp.)
1. grow in North America
2. Each leaf has an elliptical or almost circular blade supported by a
slender leaf stalk.
3. The blade is supplied with numerous hairs or tentacles, each of which
has a large gland at its outer end. Each gland produces a droplet of
mucilage which has the appearance of a small dew drop. This can be seen
even in hot dry weather. When a small insect comes in contact with the
tentacle, various glands produce enzymes, an acid, an antiseptic which
inhibits bacterial action, and more mucilage. Within a few seconds the
tentacles begin to bend toward the animal and gradually press it firmly
into the secreted mixture. After 24-48 hours, digestion of the soft
tissue is complete. The tentacles extend and the hard parts of the insect
blow away or are washed off by rain. The leaf is then ready for another
juicy victim.
Venus' Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
1. It grows on the coastal plain of North and South Carolina and is found
nowhere else in the world.
3. The leaf stalk is broad and flat and carries out most of the plant's
photosynthesis. The leaf blade, on the other hand, acts as the trap.
4. Every blade is hinged in the middle and each of the two halves bears
glands for secreting nectar and 3 sensitive trigger hairs.
5. If an insect happens to touch 2 of these hairs, the leaf halves fold
together the animals are digested and absorbed by the plant.
6. After a few days the leaf reopens and the insect's exoskeleton is
blown or washed away.
Butterworts (Pinguicula spp.)
1. Butterworts are found the Northern Hemisphere. They are found in
temperate 氣候溫暖的 or cool temperate regions on wet soils.

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2. These plants take the form of rosettes of yellow-green leaves
3.The leaves lie close to the ground and have upturned edges. Numerous
glands in the leaf blade 葉片 secrete a mucilage 黏液-like substance in
which small insects become trapped
5. This secretion, along with digestive enzymes and an antiseptic increase
in amount as the insect struggles to free itself from the leaf. At
about the same time, the margins of the leaf infold, producing a
shallow cup in which the victim disintegrates 瓦解.
6. The antiseptic properties of the butterwort's secretions are so
effective that many alpine peoples use the leaves to treat open
wounds.
Cobra Plant (Darlingtonia spp.)
1. Growing in the wet meadows and marshes of western Oregon and
northern California,
2. the cobra plant (cobra lily) gets its common names from the fang-like
扇狀的 projections 突出 from the hood of its modified leaves that
resemble the pitchers of pitcher plants.
3. Insects are attracted to the slit-like opening on the side of the
pitcher by bright colors and nectar. This carnivorous plant lures it's
insect prey with a sweet nectar which is inside the leaf opening
under it's hood.
4. slippery smooth surface of the inner tube and the sharp, downward
pointing hairs which effectively block any chance of escape.
5. Furthermore, the insect is distracted by the light shining through
thin, transparent places in the roof which resemble skylights. After
repeated attempts to escape, the insect falls exhausted into the
liquids of the receptacle where it is eventually digested through the
activities of bacteria. Any attempts to scale the walls of the
receptacle are repelled by extremely slippery places and by numerous
down-curved hairs.

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6. The prey found in these pitchers are usually ants, beetles, and flies
with an occasional small frog or toad.
Bladderworts (Utricularia spp.)
1. Most bladderworts are aquatic but a few are terrestrial in moist
locations.
2. Small insects and other animals are trapped in the special bladder
3. sensitive hairs are triggered by contact.
4. Any very small animal that makes contact with the hairs is sucked into
the trap .
5. Once trapped inside the bladder, digestion soon takes place.