It’s midsummer and the virtual tummies of my carnivorous plants are sated with the insects of the day. Right now I have three different types of carnivorous plants: Pitcher plants (Sarracenia), Cape sundews (Drosera capensis), and Venus fly traps (Dionea muscipula).
The pitcher plants sit in a bog that I build over a decade ago. They have proliferated and fill up the space that was sparsely populated when started. These North American natives are in short supply now due to habitat destruction.
By the end of July, they have flowered with a tall spiky umbrella-like stalk that emits a fetid smell. Perfume to pollinators.
But the real attraction is within the pitcher plant where modified enzymes attract a variety of bugs. But like a roach motel, once they check in, the slippery sides of the plant don’t let them out. Their demise can be inferred by the dark bottoms of the translucent leaves where their exoskeletons reside. The insects dissolve in these enzymes, which then feed the plant.
A similar but different mechanism works for sundews, which are placed either outside for an orgy of insects or inside the kitchen when the fruit flies become too numerous. They exude a clear, flypaper-like hydrogel that attracts and traps bugs. The leaf then rolls up, consuming the insect.
And then Venus fly traps, a Carolina native, use a mousetrap like pressure snap to capture and then consume their prey.
To bugs around my house: Be afraid. Be very afraid!
