Carnivorous plants usually grow in boggy, nutrient-poor soils, so they make up for missing nutrients by trapping and digesting insects. Each has its own clever trap: the snapping leaves of the Venus flytrap, the sticky tentacles of sundews, the slippery pitfalls of pitcher plants and the tiny underwater suction traps of bladderworts.
Begin with our overview about carnivorous plants, then meet individual species like the Venus flytrap, butterworts, Nepenthes and several kinds of pitcher plants from North America, California and Western Australia. If you want to grow your own, our guide to caring for carnivorous plants covers water, light and soil.
Most of you are surely acquainted with the Venus Flytrap, biological name Dionaea Muscipula and its amazing carnivorous, feeding habits, but how many of you are familiar with other hunting carnivores plants? Meet the Utricularia or the Bladderwort plant that has a trap working at almost 100 times the speed of a Venus Flytrap. The interesting facts…
The genus Catopsis belongs to the family Bromeliaceae and the Tillandsioideaev subfamily. The name derives from “kata” the Greek word for “hanging down” combined with “opsis” or “appearance”. You can find varieties of Catopsis from Florida, running parts of Brazil in the East, as well as the Caribbean. Catopsis Quick Facts Common name Catopsis Scientific name Catopsis Kingdom…
Nepenthes are tropical pitcher plants, also called monkey cups. These carnivorous plants catch insects and other small animals in hanging, cup-shaped traps called pitchers, and there are more than 150 known species. Tropical pitcher plant Quick Facts Common name Tropical pitcher plant Scientific name Nepenthes Kingdom Plantae Phylum Tracheophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Caryophyllales Family Nepenthaceae…
Drosera, usually famous as the sundews, encompasses one of the biggest varieties of carnivorous plants, having over 194 species. The members of the Droseraceae family attract, arrest, and absorb insects through stalked mucilaginous glands spread over the surface of their leaves. The insects go to enrich the meager mineral nutrition of the soil wherein they grow….
Pinguicula carnivorous plants, more popularly known as the butterworts, are a species of carnivorous plants that employ their sticky, glandular leaves to entice, trap, and absorb insects to compensate for the meager mineral nutrition they get from the environments. At present, it has eighty known species. Of these, twelve belong to Europe, nine to North America,…
Heliamphora is a group of carnivorous pitcher plants that grow only on the misty, rain-soaked mountains of northern South America. Often called “sun pitchers” or “marsh pitchers,” these plants catch insects in tube-shaped leaves filled with rainwater. Sun pitcher Quick Facts Common name Sun pitcher Scientific name Heliamphora Kingdom Plantae Phylum Tracheophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order…
Drosophyllum is a type of carnivorous plant having a single genre, Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Portuguese sundew or dewy pine). It looks akin to the related group Drosera (the sundews) and to the more distant cousin Byblis (the rainbow plants). Portuguese sundew Quick Facts Common name Portuguese sundew Scientific name Drosophyllum lusitanicum Kingdom Plantae Phylum Tracheophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Caryophyllales…
Cephalotus follicularis is the single specie of the genus Cephalotus and they call it the pitcher plant. The adapted leaves form the pit-fall traps and many names exist for this plant, including, the flycatcher plant, the Albany pitcher plant, the moccasin plant, and the Western Australian pitcher plant. Western Australian pitcher plant Quick Facts Common name…
Darlingtonia californica is also known as California pitcher plant, cobra plant, or cobra lily. Darlingtonia is a genus of animal-eating plant, the only member of the genre Darlingtonia from the family of the Sarraceniaceae. It inhabits Northern California and Oregon, grows in marshes, and seeps with cold running water. This plant has an unusual classification as due to its natural…
The North American Pitcher plant or Sarracenia is a type of carnivorous plant that habits the great lakes, the eastern seaboard, Texas, and southeastern Canada, most of its varieties growing in the southeast states. North American pitcher plant Quick Facts Common name North American pitcher plant Scientific name Sarracenia Kingdom Plantae Phylum Tracheophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Ericales…
Perhaps the Pitcher plant is the most mysterious leaf in the whole wide universe. With its unique ability to obtain food, it has inspired multitudes to reshape their concept of how nature really works. Kingdom Plantae (Plants) Subkingdom Embryophyta Division Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants) Subdivision Spermatophyta (Seed Plants) Class Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) Subclass Monocotyledons (Monocots) Families…
The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a meat-eating plant that catches insects and spiders with snapping, jaw-like leaves. In the wild, it grows in only one small part of the world: the wet, boggy coastal plains of North and South Carolina in the United States. Venus flytrap Quick Facts Common name Venus flytrap Scientific name…
