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Secret Meat Eater
PHOTOGRAPHED BY DANILO LIMA/COURTESY OF QIANSHI LIN (WESTERN FALSE ASPHODEL); PHOTOGRAPHED BY QIANSHI LIN/COURTESY OF QIANSHI LIN (TRAPPED INSECTS)
(left) STICKY SITUATION: These insects are trapped in the sticky hairs on the western false asphodel’s stem.
(right) HUNGRY FLOWER: This white bloom actually belongs to a unique type of meat-eating plant.
A tiny white flower found throughout the Pacific Northwest has been keeping a secret from scientists for more than a century. It turns out that the plant, called the western false asphodel (Triantha occidentalis), is carnivorous.
Scientists recently discovered that the flower’s stem is covered in sticky hairs that trap small insects. The hairs ooze an enzyme—a substance produced by an organism that causes a chemical reaction—that digests the caught critters. Carnivorous plants rely on the animals they catch to provide nutrients that are scarce in the soils where they grow. So bugs beware!
More than 800 species of carnivorous plants are known to exist. Here’s how a few of these predatory plants trap and consume their prey.
OXFORD SCIENTIFIC/GETTY IMAGES
VENUS FLYTRAP
There are two rounded structures on the end of the plant’s leaves with sensitive hairs inside. The structures snap shut when an insect touches the hairs, trapping the bug.
KELLY MARKEN/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
PITCHER PLANT
This tropical plant attracts insects using sweet nectar. After landing, insects slip and fall into pitcher-shaped leaves that are filled with digestive juices.
ISTOCKPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
SUNDEW
This plant’s leaves are covered with hairs coated in sugary goo. Once an insect gets stuck in the sticky stuff, a tendril wraps around its body and starts to digest it.