Every living thing has a specific diet it takes for growth and survival. So, every living thing strives to find its food source. In situations where finding the right proportion of food nutrients become a challenge, the organism tends to put up a strategic method to ensure that there's an abundant flow of food, rich in that particular nutrients of which the organism may lack in its ambient.
This tireless means of searching for food is predominantly seen among humans, and animals. Plants have also evolved naturally to execute their own special style to supplement their nutrient intake by feeding on insects.
Come with me to explore together five fascinating plants that feed on insects.
1. Venus flytrapThis plant is endemic to subtropical wetlands in North and South Carolina, Florida and New Jersey. It grows in moist, acidic soil that may be poor in nutrients.
Like all plants, the Venus flytrap derives its energy from the sun in a process known as photosynthesis.It primary gets its nutrients from the soil, but to supplement its diet, the plant lures and traps and digests insects and arachnids to replace nutrients that are not available in its surrounding environment.
Ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders are the buds that dare to play with the brightly petals and pollen grains of the plant and lose their lives thereafter. It can take like three to five days for the Venus flytrap to digest its preys.
2. Cobra Lily
The plant was discovered by the botanist Williams. D. Brackenridge in the year 1841. It is mostly found in northern California. The plant has Clusters of tubular leaves with hooded tops that make it resemble the Cobra snake. Hence the name Cobra lily. It possesses a unique structure that deceives its preys.
The large tubular leaves of the plant trap water which attracts insects that the plant digests and gains nutrients from. Insects, or other small organisms, are attracted to the nectar secreted by the hood and enter the hole beneath the hood. Once inside, numerous down-pointing hairs prevent escape and they are decomposed by microorganisms in the fluid in the tubular base. Nutrients thus released are absorbed by the plant. The plants typically need these nutrients because the wet boggy soils they grow in do not provide enough nutrients for sustainability.
3. Monkey cup plant Another insectivorous plant on this list is the monkey cup plant also known as tropical pitcher plant. It can be found in the tropical regions of Asia – mainly Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Monkey cups have large, pitcher-shaped leaves that collect rainwater and form a digestive pool.
Insects, including mosquitoes, are attracted to these pitchers due to nectar secretions and colouration of the pitcher, but once they fall in, they are unable to come out, and are digested by the fluid at the bottom of the trap.
4. BladderwortsThese are aquatic plants that are mostly found in freshwater environments e.g lakes, ponds, slow-moving streams and rivers. They feast on small aquatic creatures and other microscopic animals which flow through water. The bladderwort has trigger hairs on its finely-forked, filamentous leaves, which attract and kill insects that come into contact and later digest them in the bladder.
5. SundewsSundews generally grow in seasonally moist habitats with acidic soils and high levels of sunlight. Common habitats include bogs, fens, swamps, marshes, and moist stream banks.
They are characterized by their sticky, glandular tentacles that coat their leaves. These tentacles produce a sugary substance that lures, captures and digests insects. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow.
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