Most people believe that excellent representatives of the flora are food for reptiles and insects, herbivores. They also know that a large proportion of plants in the human diet. However, not everyone knows that carnivorous plants exist on Earth that are not averse to feasting on living organisms.
Today, science knows more than 600 species of predator plants that have special adaptations to attract and retain prey. They are united by a bright color that attracts insects. In addition, they all grow on rather poor soils.
Why do plants become predators?
Almost all plants feed on the juices of the earth. For their extraction, they have a root system, often quite branched. It is through it that useful substances from the soil enter the stem, are absorbed and turn into fiber, leaves, wood, and beautiful inflorescences pleasing to the eye. The more fertile the soil, the more opportunities the plant has. This principle applies to all representatives of the flora.
But, unfortunately, the soil is not always fertile. A carnivorous plant that feeds on insects is forced to obtain substances that are necessary for its life, for one simple reason - there is nowhere to take them anymore, because predators live on very poor soils. Nevertheless, they are developing well. Moreover, many gardeners grow carnivorous plants at home.
How do predator plants eat?
During evolution, the leaves of carnivorous plants underwent major changes: they turned into special hunting organs: sticky traps, instantly triggered traps, water lilies filled with digesting liquid. For example, a leaf of sundew is covered with droplets of a sticky substance. For this brilliant scattering, Americans call the plant a herb of precious stones.
Glitter attracts an insect, which recklessly sits on a leaf-trap and immediately sticks to it. Interestingly, almost all carnivorous predator plants, insect killers can distinguish edible from inedible. They do not respond to false signals (raindrops, fallen leaf). But when an insect falls into the trap, immediately the villi located on the sheet encircle it from all sides, and the sheet itself is folded into a small dense cocoon. In this state, special substances are secreted from its glands. Their composition is very close to the digestive juice of animals. With their help, chitin dissolves, and all nutrients rush through the vessels of carnivorous flowers. After a few days, the trap swings open - it is again ready for hunting.
In a puffy woman, hunting occurs in a slightly different way: the leaf of the plant does not fold after capturing an insect. Nitrogen, which is contained in the body of production, gives a powerful impetus, and the production of digesting liquid begins. Outwardly, it resembles fat, perhaps it was she who gave the name to the plant.
Darlingtonia, Nepentes, Sarracenia demonstrate a completely different way of hunting. In these plants, the leaves turned into jugs, filled to the top with a digestive composition. Insects that have fallen on the inner wall of the leaf slide off and end up at the bottom of the trap.
Scientists consider the most active carnivorous plant to be a Venus flytrap. Its leaves look like shells. They are densely covered with sensitive hairs. As soon as one of them touches the victim, the valves shut at the same second, and the plant begins to produce digestive enzymes. In various species of carnivorous plants, the digestive cycle can last from five hours to two months.
Sundew
Residents of the northwestern regions of Russia are well aware of the name of the carnivorous plant growing on marshy lands - these are sundews. As a rule, there are two species - round-leaved and English. These are small plants with leaves collected in a rosette. Dewdrops are endowed with moving tentacles, on the tips of which sticky droplets of liquid protrude.
An insect crouched on sticky tentacles immediately becomes a victim of the plant. Tentacles quickly trap him.
Darlington California
This plant is considered a fairly rare species growing in swamps and in springs with very cold running water. Most common in Oregon and northern California. The plant is complex in structure: in its jug it has false moves. On them, insects attracted by a sweet aroma try to get out, but the more active their efforts, the faster the prey is immersed in a sticky composition.
At the same time, botanists note an interesting fact - some insects pollinate this plant, which do not die in the mucus, but science does not yet know what species they belong to.
Venus flytrap
This is a small predator plant that feeds on insects and arachnids. Around the underground stem are leaves in the form of rosettes. Usually on one adult plant there are no more than seven leaves, each of which is a trap. The flycatcher grows very low to the ground, so it does not feel a lack of food: insects easily crawl into the trap.
Traps of this plant, bordered by hard, spike-like cilia, slam shut in a split second. It is interesting that the venus flytrap minimizes false slams: they close only after the victim touches the internal hairs, and for only twenty seconds.
When the victim falls into the trap, the edges of the leaf lobes close it, creating a closed volume, where the prey is digested.
Nepentes
Grassy, bushy, predatory vine, which is widespread in the tropics of Asia, the Seychelles, Philippines, Madagascar. First of all, it is distinguished from other carnivorous plants by its size: often a jug reaches 30 cm in length. With the help of such a trap, a plant successfully hunts not only insects, but also amphibians, lizards and even small mammals.
Nepentes liked the monkeys: the researchers have repeatedly observed how they drink from fairly large glasses, for which the local population calls this vine a “monkey cup”. Most of the plants of this species are small, eating only insects. But among them there are large varieties, for example, Nepenthes Rajah, Nepenthes Rafflesiana, hunting small animals (lizards, rats, birds).
And neptens attenboro, named after the presenter and journalist, former Air Force chief Sir David Attenborough, is the largest carnivorous plant on the planet. The discovered flower was of impressive size. His jug contained almost two liters of liquid, which was located in two layers: below was digestive fluid, and above was clear water, in which mosquito larvae were even found.
Zhiryanka
A predatory plant that uses its glandular, sticky leaves for extra food. They are very juicy, painted in pink or bright green. On the upper side of the leaves are two types of cells. Some of them produce a mucous secretion in the form of drops on the surface of the leaves, which are very sticky. Other cells produce digestive enzymes.
Biblis
The plant is also called rainbow. A small species of predatory plants that came to us from Australia. The rainbow plant got its second name due to the mucus covering the leaves. In the sun it shimmers with all colors. The leaves completely cover the glandular hairs that secrete a mucous substance, which is a trap for small insects.
Rosolist Lusitansky
A shrub close to the sundews, with the second name of the Portuguese flycatcher, originally from the Mediterranean. The plant gives off a sweet aroma that attracts insects. They get stuck in a sticky surface and die.
Rosolist has an excellent appetite: during the day, an adult plant successfully copes with dozens of large flies.
How to grow carnivorous plants at home?
Even experienced growers recognize that growing such plants is not easy. However, all the difficulties in growing and caring are more than offset by the ability to observe these unique plants, feed them annoying midges and mosquitoes.
Carnivorous indoor plants need special attention and proper care. Predatory plants play the role of "orderlies", destroying insects in the apartment. Of the more than 600 species of carnivorous plants, only two dozen are cultivated as domestic ones. Most often, the following are grown:
- sundew (round-leaved, English, royal);
- Nepentes (some species);
- purple sarracenia;
- fat woman;
- heliamphor;
- Venus flytrap;
- aldwanda (aquatic plant).
For them, it is necessary to create certain conditions in the apartment.
Lighting
All predatory plants need good lighting, it is desirable that the light be diffused. Some species are not even afraid of direct sunlight. With insufficient lighting, plants in which the leaves are colored in orange, red, raspberry, burgundy color, change it to green, losing their brightness and decorativeness. The same can be said of altered leaves that are intended for hunting: jugs, funnels, traps. Tropical predators such as darlingtonia and nepentes are especially sensitive to lack of lighting. In winter, they need additional lighting.
Temperature
In the room where such an unusual plant grows, it is necessary to maintain the temperature habitual for a certain type. In other words, it should be close to natural. Carnivorous indoor plants from a temperate climate: papaver, sundew, sarracenia, Venus flytrap - they feel great at a temperature of +18 ... 22 ° C. However, they do not suffer if the temperature drops to +10 ° C. It is interesting that puffy, sundew and frost-resistant varieties of sarracenia can be successfully grown in open ground, in artificial reservoirs.
The representative of the tropics - Nepentes - requires a higher temperature - from 22 to 25 ° C.
Substrate
Carnivorous plants at home are planted in soil similar to the natural composition of soils. It should be acidic, with a pH from 5.0 to 6.2, not containing a large amount of mineral and organic components. For example, you can use a mixture of peat with sphagnum sand in a ratio of 3: 1. Sometimes peat replaces coconut fiber and sand replaces perlite.
Humidity and watering
Carnivorous domestic plants are watered with warm (19-22 ° C) soft water. In summer, watering is done three times a week, and in winter - once. Often, beginning flower growers encounter the main problem when growing carnivorous domestic plants - providing the right humidity.
For a plant to grow normally and actively develop, most species require high air humidity - more than 60%. Tropical species (Nepentes, Darlingtonia) need about 85% humidity. Otherwise, the plants will lose their decorative effect: the tips of the leaves, on which traps and pitchers are located, dry out, but do not appear on new leaves.
To maintain the necessary humidity, regular spraying of the plant is not enough. Many use a pallet with expanded clay or pebbles poured into it. Pour water into it so that it does not touch the bottom of the flower pot. It is best to grow predatory plants in florariums or winter gardens. If this is not possible, use special humidifiers.
Feeding
In indoor floriculture, green predators, as in natural conditions, need additional nutrition. Feeding predators, as expected, protein food. Horseflies, flies, cockroaches, spiders, small slugs are suitable for this.
Active predators (Venus flytrap) are fed using tweezers: carefully bring the insect to the open trap and release it into the trap. As soon as the sensitive hairs feel the touch of prey, the trap will instantly shut.