Can plants eat insects? Detailed answer

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Can plants eat insects? Detailed answer

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Can plants eat insects?

If you have never done floriculture, you probably think that all flowers are gentle and harmless. But there are at least three different types of insect-eating plants, and each of them seems to be as smart and bloodthirsty as any animal that hunts prey.

The most famous of these plants is Nepenthes, which grows in Borneo and tropical Asia. Nepenthes secretes a fragrant juice that attracts insects. As an additional bait, the edges of the plants are colored red. The insect approaches, attracted by the brightness and fragrance of the flower, and in order to drink the nectar, climbs to the edge of the flower, which is shaped like a jug. The top wall of the jar is so smooth that the insect slides down, where a bath of potent liquid awaits it. The insect begins to sink into it, and the liquid digests the victim, turning it into food for the plant.

Another cunning carnivorous plant is called the sundew. The upper side of the blade of each of its leaves is covered with small cilia that secrete an attractive liquid that hangs on the tip of the cilium like a dewdrop (hence the name sundew). At the moment of touching any of the cilia, the insect sticks to it. After that, the rest of the cilia tend to this place and tightly cover the victim. The liquid surrounding the poor insect begins to digest it. After about two days, the whole process is completed and the cilia open up again.

In Northern and Southern California, you can find the Dionea plant (another name is the Venus flytrap). This is the most "business" insectivorous plant of all. It stands with two halves of the leaf open, like greedy jaws. As soon as the fly touches the bristles growing on the surface of the leaf, the halves snap shut like a trap. After the fly is digested with the juices of the plant, the leaf segments diverge again and take their previous position.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why did the Spartans use iron bars as money?

In ancient Greece, there was a monetary unit called obol, which at the same time was a measure of weight equal to about 0,7 grams. In Athens and other cities, obols were silver coins, but in Sparta, obols were used in the form of bulky and impractical iron rods. They were as much heavier than coins as iron was cheaper than silver. This was done so that the Spartans were less likely to seek wealth, as well as to steal and pay bribes less.

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