Carnivorous Plants

The term carnivorous plant can conjure up scary scenes.

For example, you see unsuspecting victims in a swamp is being snatched up by a flesh-eating plant. 

But carnivorous plants are a very interesting group of  plants.

This scene exaggerates carnivorous plants.

For a plant to be carnivorous, it has to have these characteristics.

4 Characteristics of Carnivorous Plants

1. Must use a “trap” to attract insects;
2. Capture the insect;
3. Kill the insect; and
4. Digest the insect.

Carnivorous plants can use a number of techniques to capture their prey.

These include traps that are pitfall, snap, flypaper, bladder and even lobster-pot traps.

Carnivorous Plants

A pitcher plant has a pitfall trap. It has rolled leaves that are lined with slippery hairs which point downward to it’s trap.

Insects are attracted to the leaves of sweet smelling nectar.

The interior is coated with wax. When an insect lands, it’s feet are coated with wax making it hard to climb out.

And soon stops struggling and falls down into the trap.

There it is digested by the enzymes.

The Venus flytrap is a good example of a snap trap.

It has two winged or clam shaped leaves which are brightly colored inside.

When an insect lands, hairs inside the trap are triggered. Then, the leaves SNAP shut within seconds.

As the trapped insect thrashes around, the leaves get tighter and digestion is started.

Sundew plants have a sticky substance they secrete that acts like flypaper. The leaves sparkle and look like dew glistening in the sun.

Also, they are covered with the glue like substance that traps the insects once they land to get a better look. Once trapped, the leaves pull the insects closer and begin digestion.

Bladderworts are found in water. They contain sacs that have hinged like door openings. They suck in prey like a vacuum and close the door.

Corkscrews plants on the other hand are easier to enter but have the lobster-pot traps.

Corkscrew plants have a Y shaped leaf. Prey enter the leaf through a spiral structure. They are forced to move toward the bottom of the Y where digestion takes place.

The carnivorous plants are very similar to other plants except for one fact–they are able to absorb certain nutrients from animals. All plants need an important nutrient called nitrogen to thrive.

Most of the time plants can get this nutrient from ammonia which they get from the nitrogen cycle or from the soil.

However, if the soil is poor or rich in ammonia, you might not see many carnivorous plants.

Does this mean that the insects are food for the plant? NO. Like all plants, the carnivorous plant still gets its food from the process of photosynthesis.

A lot of carnivorous plants then grow where soil is thin and nutrients available are poor.

More Science Carnivorous Plants Activities

Rodents, frogs and birds can be captured by these plants. But the plants have no choice but to digest them because they cannot get out.

However, it could cause  great harm for the plant to do this. God did not design these plants to consume rodents, but insects.

So it would not be wise to feed your carnivorous plant hamburger meat.

If you should happen to fall into a bed of flesh-eating carnivorous plants, you have nothing to worry about if you’re bigger than an insect!

                      Pitcher Plant                                                          Venus Flytrap

                     Sundew                                                                Bladderwort

Carnivorous Lapbook Layout

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Links I liked:

For younger children.

Parts of a plant

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