Carnivorous plants are exactly as them seems, a plant that eats animals to survive.
Now I’m sure many of you have heard of the venus flytrap or Dionaea muscipula, a plant
that lures in unsuspecting flies to land on their leaves promising a taste snack for the
fly only to be consumed by their jaws.
In this clip here you can seem Gerald was quickly consumed with no idea what happened
but Samson shows up to try to help his buddy out.
While he’s trying to find a hole for his friend to escape Peggy falls victim to the
same fate as Gerald.
In a giant plot twist we learn Samson isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed as he is also
consumed by the fly trap.
What happens after a fly trap eats a fly
Typically there are 3 fine hairs on the each side of trap, you can see there is 4 on the
left side here and once two of these highly sensitive hairs are triggered within 30 seconds
of each other the trap snaps shut.
This prevents the trap from reacting to wind, rain, leaves or pollen blowing around.
The venus fly trap is an upgraded version of more primitive types of carnivorous plants
that lure in insects to have them get stuck with a sticky goo.
This method works but allows other creatures like lizards to come steal their catch.
By evolving to a system of a closed trap, their captured fly cannot be stolen and to
complete absorb the nutrition from the fly.
This system is so smart that the interlocking teeth of the fly trap will lock half way allowing
small bugs to escape through the gaps, this ensures that the fly trap is only spending
its energy capturing large prey.
A fly freaking out inside the fly trap like Gerald here will continually trigger the hairs
over and over which signals the traps to completely chomp and close to digest the fly.
What’s most surprising about the venus fly trap though is the mechanism that opens and
closes the trap.
There are no muscles involved but instead pockets of water in the inner part and pockets
in the outer layer.
It takes a while for water to fill into the inner pockets which forces the trap open as
the hairs are stimulated they send an electric charge to the cells but they will only dump
the water from the inner cells to the outer ones as mentioned earlier if triggered twice
within 30 seconds.
Once triggers the water is transferred almost instantaneously to the outer cells releasing
the negative pressure forcing the trap shut.
As the fly keeps brushing against the hairs, the cells are further drained until the trap
is fully empty.
Venus fly traps are found in nutritionally devoid soil, on rocky areas or in bogs, often
in waterlogged soil but never in dry climates.
Because of these living conditions, they rely on eating animals as we’ve learned here
for nutrition vs pulling it from the soil.
Next up we have the Drosera anglica or English sundew another carnivorous plant uses the
same principle but a different technique to capture it’s prey.
This perennial herb is covered by a dense layer of mucilaginous glands or this stick
gland stuff.
Each are tipped with a clear droplet of a viscous fluid intented to lure in insects.
The sugary scent brings them in and once they start to take a drink they’ll start to get
stuck.
Depending on the size of the insect some will easily escape or think nothing about how sticky
it is.
As the insect drinks from the gland the sundew will start bending additional tentacles towards
the prey to glue them in place.
This glue is so effective that these small plants can catch something as big as a butterfly.
Once the prey is locked in they will start to wrap a leaf around the insect will which
happen over hours or even days.
The Insect will be digested and all that is left is the exoskeleton of the bug.
English sundews are found in northern regions across north america, europe and russia with
the odd subtropical group of them that have been found in southern europe and on the hawaii
island of Kauai.
Another example of a Drosera this time the rotundifolia, while using the same sticky
glands to lure and stick the prey this one is almost a mixture of a venus fly trap and
the anglica.
Prey will land on this and not only will the gland juice stick to the insect but the petal
will also close on them.
You can see a fly right here.
These grow in the same region of the world as the previous one and grow in poor soil.
Ammonia from the proteins in the insect along with other nutrients are extracted from the
body.
The ammonia essentially replaces the nitrogen the plant would get from the soil.
There are many Drosera species out there but one more really quick we have the spatulata
or spoon-leaved sundew.
This one is a lot more hardy than most and develops a unique stack of carnivorous gland
filled leaves with a flower on top.
These leaves will start reaching towards the flower creating essentially a minefield of
gooey treats for insects with no way to escape.
Next up we have one from the Pinguicula family, the moranensis.
This unsuspecting carnivorous plant has a secret reservoir of that same sticky gland
juice in the stalk of the plant.
A very thin layer of this liquid is present on top of the leaf giving a reflective wet
appearance indicating to insects to come land for a treat.
When an insect lands on a leaf they are immediately glued down and as they start to struggle the
moranesis will unleash a torrent of this goo from the stalk to encapsulate and ensure the
insect isn’t going anywhere.
As the bug is broken down but the goo and the nutrients from the insect are absorbed
back into the leaf leaving once again only the exoskeleton.
What is super interested about these plants is they will shed their gland leaves for non
gland leaves in October to protect themselves during the dry season through the winter until
it rains in May.
Unlike the others this one doesn’t live in the north but in southern Mexico, so they
essentially go dormant when there is no water coming down.
Coming from northern Sumantra the Nepenthes jamban was discovered in 2004.
This climbing plant produces upper pitches and lower pitchers.
The upper pitches are able to capture larger prey like crickets and wasps where the lower
pitchers are much smaller and designed to attract and snag smaller insects.
The upper pitchers are generally yellow or orange where the lower ones can vary from
red, purple to yellowish-orange.
The trap of the Nepenthes jamban uses a pool of mucilaginous liquid as the final resting
place for the insects.
The inner walls are lined with the liquid which draw in creatures tempted by the sweet
taste but become entangled in it as they slide down into the pool.
To ensure success in capturing its prey the jamban has a small lid on top of the pitchers
that’ll close after the insect is inside.
Jumping up significantly in size we have the Nepenthes rajah.
Endemic to Mount Kinabulu in Borneo Able to hold 3.5 liters of water making it
the largest in the genus by volume Forget trapping bugs this trap can capture
lizard, birds, frogs, mountain treeshrew and rats.
A pair of fringed wings on the mouth of the pitcher is believed to guide animals into
the pitcher These pitchers just like the previous plant
has upper and lower pitchers but the upper ones are quite rare.
These upper pitchers don’t have a pair for fringed wings which are designed to capture
insects and birds.
This one works in a different way as the gland will excrete liquid from the underside of
the lid, as an animal drinks the liquid it’ll close the lid capturing the prey.
The distance from the lid to the fringed wings are the exact length of the mountain treeshrew
which indicates that is their intended target.
What is fascinating about this is when a mountain treeshrew is feeding they’ll poop to mark
their territory and because the distance is just right that poop will go into the pitcher
so even if they are too wise to the tricks of the rajah the rajah will obtain most of
the nitrogen it needs just from the mountain treeshrew’s poop.
Being so unique and colorful this plant while rare is starting to be cultivated and obtained
by plant collectors which has increased its popularity and thus it’s survival rate.
Alisaputrana Only found in a few remote areas of Kinabulu
National Park the Nepenthes alisaputrana is closely related to the previous one but is
known for its brown or red spots.
There is also the Nepenthes kinabaluensis, which was discovered in 1910, which doesn’t
grow as big but is iconic for its highly developed ribs on the mouth of the pitcher.
These pitchers vary in color from yellow to red and tend to produce more upper pitchers
than the other species.
Finally the Darlingtonia californica or the cobra lily.
Named this due to its resemblance to a cobra with fangs this carnivorous plant was discovered
in 1841 at mount Shasta in California.
It thrives in poor acidic soil in bogs or other not so habitable places and can even
survive a forest fire by regenerating their roots as their roots are a delicate organ.
Despite it being a pitcher it doesn’t trap rainwater but instead is full of sticky liquid
that is pumped upwards from the root.
Once prey enters the pitcher the californica will curl the exit up to prevent escape and
also has multiple translucent false exits within its structure to confuse its prey.
Downward pointing hairs force their prey into the trap along with slippery walls.
The cells on the inside of the pitcher are the same as the ones on the roots that absorb
nutrients after the prey is broken down.
3 color morphs can occur, all green, all red, or a red-green bicolor.
These plants die down to their rhizomes and go dormant through the winter.
In spring a new large pitcher will develop with smaller ones being created through
the summer.