Flytraps, sundews and pitchers

Flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants have all evolved a taste for meat. These carnivorous plants employ cunning methods to attract, capture and consume prey: sundews use a sticky liquid, flytraps snap shut and pitchers drown their prey in cup-shaped leaves. The main diet is usually made up of insects and other invertebrates but larger pitcher plants are known to attract and digest small rodents and reptiles as well.

This additional source of nutrients supplements the diet of these flowering plants, as they usually grow in areas where soils are nutrient poor. The order contains around 400 species with representatives found right across the globe, including the tropical pitcher plants of Southeast Asia and the Venus flytraps of North America. Sundews can be found in the UK’s wet and acidic bogs.

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