In this subjective top six most interesting carnivorous plants with artistic forms, you will find very little known plants, which impress with their size, beauty and “cunning”. Because they are living, usually, in nutrient-poor environments, they adapted in an ingenious way, in order to be able to have food.
The sixth place in this less common top can be occupied by the herb called Sarracenia, native to North America. It is part of the carnivorous plants native to the Texas area, the Great Lakes and south-eastern part of Canada. The leaves turned in hundreds of years of evolution in a funnel covered with a structure similar with a hood, in order to prevent the rain water from entering inside the plant, where its digestive juices can be diluted. Insects are attracted by the unusual colors, the smell and delighted by a nectar-like secretion present on one of the lips of this “vicious predator”.
Place five in the top of carnivorous plants with artistic forms is occupied by grand Nepenthes, a carnivorous tropical plant that belongs to the genus of carnivores which “trap”. At present, there are about 130 species, found in particular in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Madagascar, Seychelles, Australia, India, Borneo and Sumatra. This plant still wears the name of “monkey mug” because monkeys were seen while drinking water from this plant. Most species of Nepenthes are very high – around 10-15 meters, with a shallow root system.
At the top of the main stem, you can see a bulb which, as it departs from the tree, expands in volume and forms the cup, which acts as a trap. It contains fluids produced by plants that can be based on syrup or water used for flooding and digest the captured insects. Most of these plants are known for their way to capture insects, but Nepenthes rafflesiana and Nepenthes Rajah are so large in size that they can capture medium-sized rats.
The fourth position of the top is occupied by Genlisea, a group of carnivores that contains over 21 terrestrial and semi-aquatic species originating from Africa and South America. Genlisea are actually some small herbs with yellow flowers, with a clamping mechanism for catching the prey, fascinatingly well done – as a trap it is very easy to enter, but you cannot go out. The plant has two distinct types of leaves, some with a role in photosynthesis, while others have a role in attracting, capturing and digesting small bodies, as, for example, the protozoa. These underground leaves also act as a root through water absorption and by anchoring the plant to the ground.
The third place among carnivorous plant with art forms is occupied by Darlingtonia Californica, carnivorous plant that is also called “cobra lily”, originally from California and Oregon. The leaves of this plant are also with a bulbous form, an empty cavity with an opening located below the protruding structure like a balloon and sharp leaves that look like incisors of carnivores. When an insect enters this area it will be stunned by very fine light trails that penetrate the plant and will get deeper, the digestive organs of the plant following the trail of dense hairs, preventing it from turning back.
The second position in the top of carnivorous plants with artistic forms is occupied by Aldrovanda vesiculosa, a fascinating carnivorous plant, aquatic and completely devoid of roots, which feeds on aquatic small animals, by using a trap consisting of three floating branches, which reach 6-11 cm. The trap leaves, 2-3 mm, are attached in rows of 5-9, in very close succession. These traps have attached petioles containing air and contributing, in this way, to the buoyancy of the plant. Vesiculosa Aldrovanda grows extremely quickly, reaching 4-9 millimeters per day.
Finally, the first and most interesting of the carnivorous plants is Drosera or “hairy plant,” which is part of one of the largest genus of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. They are located on all continents except Antarctica. This plant can form rosettes with sizes ranging from one cm up to one meter high, and can have a lifespan of up to 50 years. This plant is characterized by the presence of numerous mobile glandular tentacles, covered with very sticky secretions. When an insect lands on one of these tentacles, the plant is able to move the tentacles further in the direction of the insect in order to catch it. Once captured, it will be digested by the galnds, to be turned into nutrients for growth.