SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Tryphiophyllum peltatum

 

 A species of plant known as a liana, Tryphiophyllum peltatum, has many stages in its life cycle.
First, it grows unremarkable-looking oval-shaped leaves; then, around the time it flowers, it produces long, sticky leaves that attract, capture and digest insects; and lastly it becomes a climbing vine equipped with short, hooked leaves, sometimes attaining lengths of over a hundred feet.

The Portuguese Sundew

 The Portuguese Sundew, Drosophyllum lusitanicum, grows in nutrient-poor soil along the coasts of Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
Like many other carnivorous plants on this list, the Portuguese sundew attracts bugs with its sweet aroma; traps them in a sticky substance, called mucilage, on its leaves; secretes digestive enzymes that slowly dissolve the unfortunate insects; and absorbs the nutrients so it can live to flower another day.

Roridula

  Native to South Africa, Roridula is a carnivorous plant with a twist: it doesn’t actually digest the insects it captures with its sticky hairs, but leaves this task to a bug species called Pameridea roridulae, with which it has a symbiotic relationship. Roridula then gets the poop of P. roridulae in return which is rich in nutrients, making it a superb fertilizer.

The Butterwort

  The butterwort, Pinguicula, is native to Eurasia and North, South and Central America.

Rather than emitting a sweet smell, butterworts attract insects that mistake the pearly secretions on their leaves for water, at which point they get mired in the sticky goo and are slowly dissolved by digestive enzymes.

The Corkscrew Plant

 Unlike the other plants on this list, the corkscrew plant, Genlisea, doesn’t much care for insects; rather, its main diet consists of protozoans and other microscopic animals, which it attracts and eats using specialised leaves that grow under the soil.

These underground leaves are long, pale and rootlike, but Genlisea also has more normal-looking green leaves that sprout above ground and are used to photosynthesise light.
Technically classified as herbs, corkscrew plants inhabit the semi-aquatic regions of Africa and central and South America.

The Venus Flytrap

The venus flytrap is certainly the most well-known member of its breed. It is fairly small and its sticky, eyelid-like “traps” are only about an inch long.