Curiosities

Did you know…

The Dionaea trap closes in 100 milliseconds, making it one of the fastest known plant movements. It requires two stimulations separated by less than 20 seconds to avoid false alarms from raindrops.

Did you know…

Nepenthes pitchers harbor entire ecosystems called inquilines: mosquitoes, frogs, crabs and bacteria that live inside the digestive fluid without being digested and help decompose prey.

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Some Sarracenia produce such elaborate flowers that pollinating insects must enter the flower and exit through a different opening. The plant ensures pollination before insects fall into the traps.

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Drosera tentacles can bend and surround prey in less than a minute in some species. The mucilage is so strong it can retain insects as large as a horsefly.

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European alpine Pinguicula even hunt fern spores and grass seeds. Their leaves slightly curl over the prey to increase contact area with digestive glands.

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Heliamphoras grow on tepui summits at over 2000 meters above sea level, in one of the most isolated ecosystems on the planet. Many species are endemic to a single tepui and are considered endangered.

Did you know…

Cephalotus is the only member of the Cephalotaceae family, a completely independent evolutionary lineage from all other carnivorous plants. Its pitchers evolved convergently with those of Nepenthes and Sarracenia, without any common ancestor that was carnivorous.

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Brocchinia reducta is not a "classic" carnivorous plant in the sense of having its own digestive glands: it relies on symbiotic bacteria to decompose its prey. Its carnivory is so primitive that some botanists debate whether to classify it as a proto-carnivorous plant.