carnivorous plants – סלומה

Drosera burmannii.

Drosera Venusta has stalked glands that secrete sweet mucilage to attract and
ensnare insects and enzymes to digest them, and sessile glands that absorb the resulting nutrient soup. Insects and small prey are attracted by the sweet
secretions of the peduncular glands. Upon touching these, the prey
become entrapped by sticky mucilage which prevents their progress or
escape. Eventually, the prey either succumb to death through exhaustion
or through asphyxiation as the mucilage envelops them and clogs their spiracles.

Carnivorous plant finds way to attract bats
Pitcher plants traditionally gain nutrition by trapping and digesting
insects, but in Borneo one particularly large variety of pitcher plant
has managed to adapt itself to take advantage of an alternative source
of nutrition thanks to its rather unusual relationship with bats.

Known as Nepenthes hemsleyana,
the species is still capable of catching insects but does not need to
consume as many because it supplements its nutritional intake with bat
droppings. To attract bats the plant has developed a unique
reflector mechanism that mirrors their ultrasonic communications thus
making it a lot easier for the animals to find it.

“With
these structures, the plants are able to acoustically stand out from
their environments so that bats can easily find them,” said study
co-author Michael Schöner. “Moreover, the bats are clearly able
to distinguish their plant partner from other plants that are similar in
shape, but lack the conspicuous reflector.”

There is a serious message behind this humorous sign (and no it’s not the part about violators being fed to the plants). Carnivorous plants are very sensitive to the oils in human skin and it will kill them, especially pitcher plants. There are many species of wild, native carnivorous plants in North America, so if you see them in the wild, look with your eyes, not with your hands.