Science is discovering that many more plants than we first thought have some carnivorous tendencies, and the question How carnivorous? that is considering when it is, how it is etc may be more accurate that the simple black and white concept that they either are or are not. Take for example Stylidium species. It has been known for a long time that the flower stalks are sticky and can catch small insects, otherwise known as a flypaper trap. Recently its been proven that sticky substance they exude contains proteases, enzymes which can break down proteins. Now the only thing left to prove is do these plants absorb the broken down nutrients at the point of capture, or does in wash to the ground and get absorbed by the roots? According to people here, does that count as a carnivorous plant or not? Sure the sticky flower stalks may have originally evolved to protect the flowers only, and the plant decided to make use of the captured prey. Incidentally they are also one of the few plants that have a fast-moving mechanism, the flower part (pistil I think) gets triggered when an insect lands on the flower, and it whacks the insect, then the insect flies off to the next flower to have it happen again. This is not related to carnivory. Stylidium species are mostly, if not entirely, endemic to Australia. They range from annual herbs to large woody shrubs. I grow Stylidium debile, its an incredibly easy plant to grow, it will multiply happily in straight sphagnum and probably many other types of growing media. Instead of posting one of my photos, Ill put up a video of it in action, about one and a half minutes long.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 06:31:19 +0000
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