Interesting Facts and Features About Worm Eating Plants

When I was reading the newspaper, a report that attracted me most was about a worm eating plant found in Brazil. One of the interesting facts about that plant named Philcoxia minensis is that it traps its prey on its sticky underground leaves. This piece of news inspired me to fetch more information about the carnivores' plants. Whenever people think about worm eating plants the picture that comes into their mind will be an evil horror plant that eats human beings and animals. Even in some cartoons and video games they portrait carnivores' plants as horrible and hungry creatures. The fact is that carnivores' plants exist on the earth, but not as ferocious creatures unless you are a bug.

We can see carnivores' plants all around the world except Antarctica. These specialized groups of plants grow mostly in the wet and acidic soil. Just like normal plants these groups also require air, water and sunlight to prepare food and to remain healthy. As carnivorous plants grow in warm and marshy places, like other plants they won't get sufficient nitrogen. In order to negate the scarcity of nitrogen the nature has given a special boon to them, which is capturing and digestion of the animal tissue of insects. As insects are its main prey other than frogs, lizards, worms and other animals they are also called insectivores' plants.

It's really interesting to know the way they trap insects and digest it. To attract insects they will spread a special odor. Insects that get attracted towards this odor come to the carnivores' plant and become prey for them. Each plant will have their own special trapping methods to catch worms. Some of the commonly found trapping methods are adhesive traps, snap traps, pitfall traps, flypaper traps and suction traps. Among these methods, the simplest one is the adhesive trapping method. In this method, the flypaper-like leaves of plants like Pinguicula will have a short stalked gland that secretes sticky mucilage. When insects come into contact with this sticky mucilage secretion the plant will capture it easily. The recently found Philcoxia minensis plant has got flowering leaves above the ground, but what makes it come under the category of carnivorous plants is its gum secreting subterranean leaves. As the plant cannot move from one place to another, its gum producing leaves under the soil traps roundworms and gradually digests it.

Like human beings these plants won't swallow its food. For them the leaves itself act as tiny stomachs. The digestive juice secreted by the stomach suffocates the insect and finally dissolve it. In that digestion process the plant will absorb nitrogen, salt and other minerals from the insect's body and stay healthy.

Some of the commonly found meat eating plants are venus fly trap, sundew, pitcher plant and bladderworts. It is estimated that nearly 600 species of carnivores' plants are living in the world. In the U.S. we can see at least one variety of carnivores' plant in each state. However, knowingly or unknowingly these plants are easily getting destroyed by man. In fact many species are on the verge of extinction because of people's behavior. There will come a period where we will get an opportunity to view these plants only on satellite television powered by providers like Dish TV Packages or in botanical observatories. In order to overcome such circumstances please try to plant insectivorous' plants in your garden and take pleasure from it. A little bit of advice and research can help you to grow these wonderful plants in your own home. Some tips like watering pitcher plants with rainwater or distilled water will give it a long lasting life rather than tap water and can really help people to know more about these plants. Though some special care is needed for carnivores' plants, collecting proper information related to that can make us a good carnivore's plant gardener.

Annphilip - About Author:
Ann is a freelancer and writes about different varieties of plants and interesting facts about it. She watches programs related to that in her home digital television connected to Dish TV Packages.

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