How much do you know about the amazing wisdom of carnivorous plants?

China Flower and Tree Garden News reporter Bai Bin Li Yunxi reported that in nature, plants are at the bottom of the food chain and are the source of energy for herbivores. However, the magical and intelligent carnivorous plants do the opposite, digesting and absorbing the captured insects to obtain nutrients that grow on their own.

The picture shows a carnivorous plant cultivated in a glass container

According to Liu Guoming, general manager of Jiaxing Xiao cordyceps horticulture Co., Ltd., there are currently nearly 1,100 species of carnivorous plants in about 13 families and 20 genera in the world, which is a niche group in the plant kingdom. In nature, they usually grow in swamps of acidic soil or in some rocky desertification places, which are relatively barren and lack the nitrogen and phosphorus needed for plant growth. Therefore, in the process of long-term evolution, carnivorous plants use special structures to trap insects and obtain nutrients for their own growth. Different carnivorous plants have different insect catching devices and different ways of catching insects.

Brightly coloured and cleverly structured Nepenthes

The most common carnivorous plant is the vine Nepenthes. Its broad leaves, along the midrib, shrink into slender, curved stems, the end of which swells into a cage-like pitcher. When the pitchers age, wither or are damaged, no new cages will grow. The pitcher, which includes both the pitcher and the lid, is not only very cleverly structured, the pitcher mouth is very smooth, but also the color is very bright. It relies on the color of the cage and the sweet honey juice to tempt the insects, and once the insects that come to feed slip into the cage, they will not be able to escape because of the barbs in the cage, and eventually they will be slowly drowned by the digestive juice stored at the bottom of the cage, and decomposed into nutrients, gradually digested and absorbed. After N. nepenthes catches insects, the lid does not cover the mouth of the pitcher, because the function of the lid is to shield the wind and rain, preventing the rainwater that flows into the cage when it rains to dilute the digestive juice.

Brightly coloured and cleverly structured Nepenthes

The leaves of bottle grass are hollow tube-shaped, bottle-shaped or trumpet-shaped, and the flowers are complex and delicate in structure, and the feeding method is similar to that of " Nepenthes" Although the bottle grass temperament is elegant, the color is rich. However, the bottle-shaped insect trap hides the killing machine, which lures ants, flies, mosquitoes and other insects through bright colors and secreted honey, and falls into the bottle The insects cannot escape due to the dense barbs in the tube, and will drown and digest and absorb the digestive juice at the bottom of the bottle.

Brightly colored, elegant bottle grass

The magic of bottle grass is that the more insects struggle, the more they can stimulate the production of more digestive juices. And the helmet-like stigma of the bottle grass, like an upside-down small umbrella, protects the pollen. When pollen-picking insects leave, they also take away the pollen, thus achieving cross-pollination. Therefore, bottle grass only eats the food they "match", while gently netting the insects that help them pollinate. In order to avoid pollinating beneficial insects falling into the "bottle" and being eaten by mistake, the flower stem of the bottle grass is always much higher than the leaves.

Brightly colored, elegant bottle grass

Flycatchers are the most intelligent of all carnivorous plants and belong to the active insecticidal mechanism. It feeds on mussel-like leaves to prey on insects, and its symmetrical two leaves are arranged with eyelashes-like spiny hairs on the outer edges of the eyelashes, forming a beautiful and gentle trap. When the honey juice secreted by the honey glands lures the insect, these interlaced spiny hairs close rapidly, preventing the insect from escaping.

The most intelligent flycatcher among carnivorous plants

The wisdom of the flytrap is reflected in the three pairs of precisely controlled sensory hairs on the inside of the trap. Any one of the sensory hairs is touched twice, or two sensory hairs separately, and the trap will close within 2 to 25 seconds. Beyond this time, a third touch stimulation is required to close. Because the insect did not fully enter the trap when first touched, it was easy to escape. On the second touch, the trap is closed to firmly grasp the insect.

Bottle grass ecological landscape

In the process of struggling, the leaves will become tighter and tighter, and the dense endodenosomes on the inside of the two leaf lobes will secrete digestive juices to digest and absorb the insects. Flycatchers generally decompose and absorb the more digestible parts in about four days, all complete decomposition and absorption, it takes about 5-10 days To figure: the most intelligent flycatcher in carnivorous plants. Each time the leaves of the flytrap open and close, it takes a lot of energy, so a leaf successfully preys on about 3-4 times in a lifetime, and after this time the leaves will gradually wither.

Miniature ecological landscape of thatched vegetables

The South China National Botanical Garden is planted with Jindi Luomao paste, peacock grass paste, and long-pillar grass paste. These delicate and small grasses are different from the above three carnivorous plants, which are small carnivorous plants that rely on mucus to catch insects, and are passive predatory mechanisms. Each leaf of the grassy cabbage grows dew-like crystal clear glandular hairs, and the glandular hairs have a spherical body at the tip, often showing bright colors, mostly red. It secretes honey and digestive enzymes that attract insects, and once the insects touch the glandular hairs, they will stick to it.

The plant is a delicate and small carnivorous plant