Can Plants Eat Insects

Last Updated on August 9, 2021 by

If you have never raised plants or flowers of your own, you probably have thought how delicate and harmless they are. But there are at least three different plants that feed on insects, and each one seems to be as clever and as cruel as any animal that goes hunting for its food. The best known of these is the  Pitcher plant, which grows in Borneo and tropical Asia. The Pitcher plant gives out a sweet juice that attracts insects. To makes doubly sure of luring victims, this plant has a red-colored rim and cover.

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The insect comes over to take a look and to drink the nectar. It climbs over the rim of the plant, which is shaped like a pitcher. The inside of the pitcher is so smooth that the insect slides down and cannot stop itself. At the bottom, there is a bath of powerful liquid waiting for it. The insect is drowned and the liquid goes to work and digests the insect, thus providing food for the plant.

The Sundew is another tricky insect-eating plant. The upper part of each leaf is covered with little hairlike projections which give out a sticky fluid that attracts insects. This sticky fluid looks like dewdrops, which gives the plant its name. The moment an insect touches one of these hairs, it is stuck. Then all the other hairs start to bend towards the center of the leaf until they have wrapped up the insect in a neat package. The fluid that surrounds the poor victim starts digesting him. After about two days the job is done and the hairlike tentacles open up again.

In parts of North and South Carolina, we find a plant called the Venus Bytrap. This plant is the most business-like insect eater of all. It sits there with leaves spread open like hungry jaws. When a fly touches the hairs that grow along with the leaf, the plant snaps it shut like a trap. After the fly is digested by juices in the plant, it opens up again.

What Is The Most Deadly Plant In The World?

Castor oil plants.

Which plants can eat insects?

Venus flytrap.

What food do plants eat?

Plants don’t eat food

What are the 5 things plants need to grow?

Answer– light, air, water, a source of nutrition, space

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