What did you hear about predator plants? Yes, it is about those who receive food not from the soil. Not sure how plants eat differently? And imagine that there are those whose menu consists of various insects, small crustaceans and even fish fry.
Carnivorous plants - amazing reality
Do not consider this a figment of imagination. Such plants exist, although they can be attributed to the category of natural wonders. But in fact, she herself made them develop a survival strategy. After all, the habitats of predatory plants are sands, ponds and peat bogs, in which there are no nutritious mineral substances, which are rich in fertile soils. So they adapted to eat live prey, having various devices for catching it.
They are called insectivores, since they feed mainly on insects. Distributed by such plants around the globe and there are about 450 species.
By the method of catching insects, they can be divided into several groups. These are plants :
- with special bodies that, actively moving, catch prey;
- with leaves covered with a sticky substance;
- with "hunting pits", which are small tubes;
- with bubbles;
- with jugs.
Some species grow in Russia. Although they are not as exotic in appearance as their foreign counterparts, they are very interesting and very dangerous for gullible insects.
Sundew
This insect-eating plant grows in peat bogs and looks rather modest. Leaves with a reddish-green color are spread out on a bed covered with moss. It is the leaves that the plant uses to catch prey. Their edges and upper part are equipped with cilia, which at the ends have thickening-heads.
How sundew plants feed is easy to answer. The thing is in the heads, similar to dew drops, because they have glands that secrete a sticky liquid. The insects, attracted by the brilliance of the droplets, sit on the leaves and immediately adhere to them. Cilia from such a touch receive an impulse and begin to bend down, covering the insect. The sheet plate also moves. Its edge bends and slams the trap. An interesting fact is that such actions in a plant cause only substances containing protein. If any grains of sand fall on the cilia and plates, then they do not move.
Dewdrops, in addition to sticky fluids, also secrete enzymes by which protein breaks down, as well as the acid that ensures its digestion. Plants feed on organic substances obtained as a result of these processes. After food is absorbed, the cilia again secrete mucous droplets, and the plants are ready to catch new insects.
Zhiryanka
This plant is a bit like a sundew, as its leaves are also located on the moss cover. But they are much larger and completely covered with sticky mucus secreted by numerous glands.
As soon as an insect enters the leaf, they discard the digestive juices, while the leaf plate bends and covers the prey. If we compare how the plants of these two species eat, then the process is much faster in a fat woman than in a sundew. The number of insects caught per season in the first reaches several hundred.
Pemphigus
This insectivorous plant is found in stagnant water bodies and swamps. Its leaves are immersed in water, and only a stem with large flowers is visible on the surface. The trap is the leaves of the plant. Their lobules are vesicles with openings covered by a valve, and their inner walls are covered with numerous digestive glands. Insects, various larvae and even fry, having come into contact with the valve of the bubble, get inside, from where they can no longer get out. Having died, they begin to decompose, and these plants feed on substances formed in the process of decay.
Nepentes
Predator plants that inhabit the tropics catch prey with the help of so-called pitchers. A striking representative of them is the epiphytic plant Nepentes, common on the island of Madagascar. Its leaves consist of three sections. The lower lamellar part provides air to the plant, the middle plays the role of the antennae, and the upper one is a trap - a jug with a lid. It is this part that has a bright color, which attracts insects.
In addition, an additional bait is nectar, which stands out along the edges of the jug. How plants feed, you can understand by looking at the “design” of the jug in more detail. The insect, which has landed on its edge, cannot stay there and slides along the slippery walls inward. There, it drowns in the liquid that has accumulated at the bottom, and the glands located on the walls of the jug begin to secrete juices for digestion. For the absorption of digested food, there are special cells located also in the cavity of the jug.
Dionea flycatcher
This plant is better known as the Venus flytrap. It is considered the most gluttonous predator inhabiting the swamps of North America. Its two-leaf trap is a bit like an open mollusk shell. The edges of the valves are strewn with small teeth, along which the glands are located. The nectar produced by them attracts insects well. In addition, three hard bristles are attached to each leaf. As soon as the insect touches them, they transmit a signal to the wings, and they tightly compress, capturing the victim. In this case, the glands immediately begin to secrete acidic juice, with the help of which the protein is digested. As a result of this, plants feed on prepared organic matter. As soon as the food is assimilated, the leaves diverge and wait for a new victim.
Sarracenia and Darlingtonia
These two North American women resemble each other in many ways, since the petioles of their leaves are hollow tubes. The difference is that in sarracenia, a leaf plate acts as a cover over the tube, while in darlingtonia, it has a special growth that looks like a fish tail. Around the holes of the tubes are sharp hairs directed downward. They do not allow insects that get there to get out. There are no chances for the victims, since there is still stupefying fluid inside the tubes.
After the process of insect decay is completed, plants absorb its products through the walls of the tubes.
Interesting Facts
We are not surprised by organisms that feed on plants, but the reverse process really causes bewilderment. But as you can see, plants that consume living organisms are, and even in sufficient quantity. It is not surprising that they are the subject of study by biologists who discover new and unusual facts related to this miracle of nature. Here is some of them:
- trapping tubules of sarracenia can reach 1 m in length;
- per 1 sq. cm sheet of puffy is located 25 thousand pieces of iron;
- swamp predator sundew can eat about 2 thousand insects during the summer;
- some instances of Nepentes have pitcher traps so large that mice, rats, and small birds fall there;
- Nepentes secretes a special enzyme that decomposes the victim's proteins into amino acids, and those, in turn, saturate the plant with nitrogen;
- most insect-eating plants themselves generate electrical impulses that trigger the trap valves.
The world of plants is as amazing as the world of animals. A lot of unknown and interesting can be found in it, you just have to show interest in it. In this article, we touched on only a small part of the world around us.