Some plants that live in low-nutrient soils need to establish mutualistic relationships with fungi, bacteria, or even other plants. There is also a rare but extraordinarily striking adaptation that allows some species to obtain part of the nitrogen and minerals from insects and other small animals that they ingest: these are carnivorous plants.
Carnivorous plants often live in acidic swamps and other habitats where the soils are poor in nutrients. These species make sophisticated traps to attract their prey, usually modified leaves and equipped with glands that secrete the necessary digestive enzymes.
One of the most famous is the so-called Venus flytrap, or dry flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula ): the two lobes of its leaves close in half a second when they receive electrical impulses from their sensitive hairs. Despite its name, this extraordinary carnivorous plant is capable of hunting ants and even grasshoppers.
There are other types of carnivorous plants called ‘pitcher plants’. Species of the Nepenthes or Sarracenia genera belong to this category, and are characterized by having a funnel into which the insects fall, to later be digested by the corresponding enzymes.
Another of the most characteristic genera of carnivorous plants is Drosera , also called ‘sun dew’, since they secrete a very sticky liquid that shines like dew. The insects approach and remain attached to the hairs of the leaf, which surround their prey.
(These descriptions have been extracted from the book “Biología” by Campbell and Reece, Editorial Médica Panamericana, seventh edition).
Many carnivorous plants are grown as ornamentals. Although it seems very obvious, it must be remembered that these species do not eat meat as such, so do not put a raw steak as an aperitif … the usual thing, in the case of having the pots outside, is to let them catch insects and other dams with their own resources. For each species it is necessary to be well informed of the care requirements: as we have said, their natural habitats are usually soils poor in nutrients and minerals, so an excessive contribution of these through irrigation water or fertilizers could kill them. .
