Category Science

The corpse flower is not a single flower. It is one of the world’s largest and rarest flowering structures that can be as tall as, or even taller than an adult.

This pungent plant blooms rarely-only once in 40 years-then, only for a short time.

While it is bloom, the flower emits a strong odour similar to rotting meat, or decaying corpse.

The smell, colour and even temperature of corpse flowers attract dung beetles, flesh flies and other carnivorous insects.

These insects typically eat dead flesh. The smell and the dark burgundy colour of the flower are meant to imitate a dead animal to attract them.

These insects help in the pollination of the corpse flower.

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The holly is a small tree with leaves. It provides birds with food, and with protection from winter storms and predators. But it does not encourage caterpillars, and with good reason. Certain types of caterpillars attack trees, and strip them of all their leaves for food. However, the leaves of the holly tree are designed in such a way as to prevent such an attack. Caterpillars generally like to eat a leaf from the edge, nibbling inwards, until the entire leaf is consumed.

But the leaves of the holly tree have very thick edges. In fact, the edges are so tough that a caterpillar finds it difficult to get even a nibble. The frustrated caterpillar therefore, will decide it is not worth the trouble, and leave the holly tree alone!

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The sundew plant is a carnivorous plant that lures little flies to it, and digests them. These brightly coloured plants can easily attract little insects to them. Once an insect is trapped, it has no escape from the plant.

Sundew traps insects by deception. The plant has glands that stick out of the stem. These glands are covered with a honey-like substance. In fact, these glands are bait. When the hungry insect sees them, it believes that the substance is indeed honey and flies to it with all its might.

However, when it touches the plant, it gets the shock of its life, and realizes that all is not well! The shiny fluid is a powerful adhesive that keeps the insect glued to the plant. As the insect wrestles with death, the glands slowly clutch the insect and suffocate it.

As the insect slowly near its end, the plant produces an enzyme that would digest it. In a short span of time, nothing but the scruffy shell of the insect remains, and the glands return to their normal position.

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While there are a variety of carnivorous plants on land, most species of insect-trapping plants are found in water. Bladderworts are a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of more than 230 species. Most of them are aquatic plants.

Bladderworts are called so be cause of the tiny bladder-like structures on the plants. These bladders appear on the branched underwater leaves of the plant. Bladderworts trap insects with the help of these bladders. They are, in fact, small vacuum traps that can catch tiny aquatic insects and animals.

Bladderworts are strange plants. They do not have roots! They feathery leaves of the plant always remain submerged in the water.The plant has beautiful, tiny flowers that appear on top of thin stems a few centimetres tall. These plants look like miniature orchids. These brightly coloured flowers attract tiny insects to the plant. However these plants often go unnoticed by bigger animals as they usually appear in the bottom of shallow waters. In summer and spring, they float to the surface of the water and send up shoots of small, attractive yellow snapdragons like flowers.

Not all bladderworts are water-bound. Some of these species are found on damp mosses and some others are found on trees.

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Carnivorous plants are similar to other plants in many ways. They reproduce just like other plants. Reproduction of these plants takes place either through seeds or by dividing themselves.

Some carnivorous plants have flowers. Such plants have seeds and they reproduce through them. Much like other plants, when the seeds fall on suitable soil, they germinate and grow into new plants. However, some carnivorous plants have special shoots. These shoots develop into new plants. Sometimes, one single plant turns into several small plants. This happens when a common clump of the plant with many roots and stem separates and grow into new plants.

Carnivorous plants, although strange in their way of trapping insects, are not very different from other plants when it comes to other features.

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Carnivorous plants are freaks of nature as they live a semi animal life! However, unlike animals, these plants cannot move around looking for their prey; and therefore, nature devises strategies to attract insects to them!

Fly-trapping plants are various techniques in order to attract insects. Usually, these plants are brightly coloured. Insects are easily attracted to the plants due to their arresting colours. Such plants have fleshy-coloured flowers with nectar too.

Some plants have a certain scent in them. For some insects, such sweet perfume is irresistible. Sometimes, it works differently. Insects trapped in the leaves decay over a period of time and thus start stinking. The rooting smell attracts flies to the plant. Thus, the fly trapping plants get their food.

Picture Credit : Google