Among the representatives of the plant world, there are specimens that prefer not only carbon dioxide and water, but also insects and small animals as food. These are predatory plants, forced to eat like this because of the poverty of the soil where they grow. Being carnivorous, they secrete a secret similar to digestive juice, prey on arthropods and insects, dissolve them for a certain time and thus obtain the substances necessary for life. Such heterotrophic nutrition is the only way to survive in the specific climatic conditions that give them their name.
The most popular representatives of this plant world are grown as houseplants, using to control small insects at home.
The described plants are characterized by several types of traps for catching prey, while they do not belong to plant families:
- the use of leaves resembling the shape of a jug;
- leaves forming the shape of a trap;
- sticky leaves and sweet secret;
- drag traps;
- crab claw traps.
The most popular predator is the sarracenia, or, as it is called correctly, the North American insectivore. Such plants grow on the east and south coasts. North America in southeastern Canada. The leaves are shaped like a water lily and serve as a trap for insects. This is a kind of funnel, the edges of which open in the form of a hood. It protects the opening of the plant, where enzymes and juices responsible for the digestion of food are produced, from moisture. At the edges of the flower, a special secret is produced, which, with its color and aroma, “beckons” representatives of the fauna. Sitting on the edge, insects slide into the flower, intoxicated with narcotic substances, plants, where they dissolve with the help of enzymes.
Birds sometimes use sarracenia as a feeder, taking out undigested mosquitoes and flies from it. It is also grown on home windowsills. The bright raspberry color of sarracenia will add variety to the abundance of flowers, decorate any interior and help get rid of annoying insects.
These carnivorous plants also have water lily shaped leaves which act as a trap. They grow in the tropics on the territory of Eurasia, Africa, Australia and islands located in this climatic zone. The second name of this plant is "monkey cup". It was obtained during the observation of primates who drank rainwater from these flowers.
About 200 are known, most of them are high lianas, reaching a length of about 10-15 meters. Growing them at home is not very convenient, but if you choose a greenhouse with a warm climate as their place of residence, they will take root well. On the stem are leaves with a small tendril protruding from the tip, at the end of which a vessel is formed. It becomes wider at the ends, forming a small bowl. This bowl collects the liquid synthesized by the Nepenthes, which can be sticky or watery, depending on the variety of flower. Insects drown in it, and, dissolving, form the food of nepenthes. In addition to small arthropods, some representatives of this flower also use small mammals as food.
Rosyanka and Zhiryanka
Another major representative carnivorous plants, which has about 194 species. lives on all continents, except permafrost, and feels good in all climatic conditions. These carnivorous plants live for a very long time - about 50 years. Plants feed on moving glandular tentacles ending in a sticky and sweet secret. Sitting on a sweet leaf, the insect sticks, and the tentacles slowly but surely make it move towards the trap. Here, special glands absorb the insect and digest it. Sundews are used as houseplants to control small insects.
In the same way, the butterfly works, using sticky leaves to lure and eat insects. About 80 representatives of this species of carnivores are known; they grow in soils poor in minerals and salts on the American continents, in Europe and Asia. The bright green or pink leaves of the flower have special cells that produce sticky mucus. Spreading over the surface in the form of drops, it turns it into Velcro, in which the paws of insects get stuck. Other cells produce enzymes that break down food. Zhiryanka also feels great among houseplants, blooming in the summer season.
The most popular indoor carnivorous plants in our country are flycatchers. In addition to flies, midges and mosquitoes, the nutrition of this plant is enriched with spiders and ants. This small flower feeling good at home flower pots and our climatic conditions. It has a short stem that hides underground, and four to seven leaves crowned with a head. The head consists of two plates, outwardly resembling a heart. The plates are slightly concave and long, with cilia along the edges. They form a trap. Inner surface heads produces a bright scarlet pigment, which synthesizes mucus and is a bait.
When an insect lands on a leaf, it touches the sensory hairs covering the tentacles, and they snap shut abruptly. This happens in a tenth of a second, so a careless fly has no chance of escaping. Cilia, quite hard and sharp, securely hold the victim. The leaves of the flower begin to grow, connecting at the edges and forming a stomach in which enzymes break down the prey.
A sufficiently developed plant capable of distinguishing living flesh from non-living. If, instead of an insect, the sensors are irritated with a foreign object, it will reflexively close its head, but after a few seconds it will open again.
Genlisea and Darlingtonia Californian
Genlisea lives in humid subtropical climates and is not suitable for home use. This is a short grass with bright yellow flowers and a claw trap. The exit from it is closed by small hairs growing towards the edges or in a spiral. The leaves located above the ground level are involved in the process of photosynthesis, and the underground ones serve to feed the simplest microorganisms with bacteria. In addition, underground leaves absorb moisture and perform fixing functions, because. Genlisea has no roots. The leaves form hollow spiral tubes into which microbes enter. As houseplants, it is not customary to grow a genlisee.
In the same swampy conditions, near natural springs with clean water, Darlingtonia also grows. It's pretty rare plant, which chose northern California as its habitat. Its leaves are bulb-shaped: a swollen ball-shaped cavity and two sharp leaves resembling drooping fangs. But although the leaves are trapping, the flower itself is used as a trap in the form of a claw. Rays of light break through the plant, which deceive the insects, forcing them to move inward. Movement occurs along thin villi that grow towards the core and prevent return.
Pemphigus and Byblis
Pemphigus is a very common carnivorous plant that grows in high humidity conditions in all parts of the world except Antarctica. Only this representative of carnivores has a trap - a bubble. These bubbles have different sizes, from 0.2 mm to 1.2 cm in diameter. Small bubbles are designed to catch the simplest organisms, and large ones are for larger prey. Sometimes water fleas or even tadpoles get into them. Hunting happens very quickly: when the prey is close to the bubble, it opens and sharply draws in the prey and water. If you get pemphigus like home plant, it is better to land it near an artificial reservoir.
Byblis is better known as the rainbow plant. Australia is considered the birthplace of this carnivorous representative of the flora, and the mucus that covers the leaves and shimmers on sunshine. Outwardly, the biblis is similar to the sundew. The flower has leaves with a round section, they are elongated, cone-shaped towards the end. They are completely covered with a slimy secret that attracts prey to the leaves and tentacles. These are wonderful indoor plants that feel comfortable at home.
Video Predatory plants
A flower that eats flies, until recently, was considered a figment of fantasy, juggling of facts and errors of scientists. For describing a plant that eats flies, Charles Darwin, already famous for his theory of evolution, was heavily criticized.
And for some reason, Darwin's opponents believed that insectivorous plants refute his theory of the origin of species. However, time put everything in its place, and the theory turned out to be correct, and the existence of predatory plants was not only confirmed, but fit well into the theory of the origin of species.
Why do plants eat animals?
The image of the plant is associated with green leaves, in which, under the influence of photons of light, carbon dioxide and water form a glucose molecule - the simplest and most energetically saturated organic compound.
This description of the process of photosynthesis is actually too simplistic.
So complex multi-stage reactions take place in a green leaf that the appearance of organic molecules from water and carbon dioxide seems like a miracle.
Predatory flowers are entire chemical laboratories
However, this miracle feeds a huge number of organisms from bacteria to elephants and, of course, humans. Why, then, should plants, which have created a whole laboratory for the production of their own food, become like animals that eat each other.
Another question logically arises - if the plant has switched to the animal mode of nutrition, then why shouldn't animals acquire the ability to photosynthesis.
However, today photosynthetic animals eat only in the world of single-celled organisms. Among multicellular animals there is not a single species that has passed at least partially to the process of photosynthesis. The sloth's green fur doesn't count - it's not photosynthesis. Algae simply grow there - after all, a large animal prefers a stationary lifestyle, and the air in the jungle is always humid.
It's all about lifestyle. Evolution is the opposite of revolution. Radical mutations usually lead to the death of the individual. The new kind appears from a set of micromutations that improve the position of individuals in the battle for vital resources. Plants are immobile - this is their main evolutionary sign or trap, depending on which side it is considered from. Animals can move around, some do it very well. And this is also an advantage, a sign and an evolutionary cage from which they cannot get out. For more information about predatory flowers, see this video:
The animal can migrate, move in search of food, fight for a place under the sun. For this reason, evolution works to ensure that animals acquire the ability to run, hide, cheat, steal, kill rivals, change biotope, and so on.
Plants do not have this option. They have to realize themselves where the seed has sprouted.
For this reason, the selection of micromutations for compliance with the living conditions of the species has a slightly different direction. A plant that can realize itself only within the narrow limits of its biotope is forced to adapt only to the conditions of this biotope. However, competition is almost everywhere, except in very extreme conditions. In conditions where plants that eat animals live, there are also many competitors. And most importantly - there is little nitrogen. This element is the basis for the formation of complex organic molecules, including proteins.
Predatory plants have found a convenient way to compete with other plants for nutrients.
Evolution has given some species of plants stuck in conditions of nitrogen deficiency, the way out is to consume it from the bodies of other organisms. This solution to the problem is not so original.
Who are they, green predators
Any carnivorous plant is called insectivorous. The reason for this name is not a gastronomic predilection, but the size of organisms.
Maybe green predators would eat bigger game, but their small size does not allow them.
Carnivorous or carnivorous plants is a collective name rather than a taxonomic one. There are about 630 species with such specificity. They are representatives of nineteen families, which include not only predators, but quite normal plants. 
Surprisingly, carnivorous plants are found all over the world and in various natural conditions. They are united by only one thing - the lack of nitrogen in the soil or the inability to take it due to great competition.
Usually any fly-eater plant is a herbaceous perennial. On the territory of Russia and the CIS, 18 species of animals, included in 4 genera and 2 families, feed on animals. These are the sundew and pemphigus families.
The sundew family unites a small number of species that have signs of dicotyledonous and carnation plants. This family includes three genera, all of which are carnivorous plants.
These are perennial rhizomatous plants growing in swamps. Oddly enough, but in the swamps temperate zone, where so much dead organic matter has been accumulated, there is a nitrogen deficiency, because in cold water the decomposition of organic matter to nitrates is extremely slow. In addition, plants submerged in swamp water do not grow well, because cold water cannot be digested properly. Accordingly, without water there is no influx of minerals. For more information about pemphigus, see this video:
OUR READERS RECOMMEND! In the fight against bedbugs, our readers advise the Pest-Reject repeller. The electromagnetic and ultrasonic technology is 100% effective against bed bugs and other insects. Absolutely safe, ecological product for humans and pets.
Pemphigus, which gave its name to the family, has an extensive range. It is not found only in Antarctica. These are aquatic predatory plants without roots, but with a large number of trapping bubbles. Each of them has holes with a valve. This is a typical trap that small animals can enter, but they can no longer get out of. There is only one thing left for them - to become food for the plant.
Most carnivorous plants are perennial herbs, but there are several species that belong to shrubs and even shrubs. They are classified as species with a narrow adaptation to environmental conditions. Usually such species are distinguished by unusual and bizarre adaptive reactions.
Biblis giant
Variety of traps
All predatory plants according to the method of catching are divided into those who catch actively and passively. Active catchers have special baits that move and thus attract the attention of insects. This group includes sundew and flycatcher.
Passive catchers form traps in the form of sticky and mucous secretions on leaves, jugs, bubbles.
It is difficult to understand whose strategy is better to understand, but since these adaptations exist, it means that this species is beneficial. Flycatcher and sundew spend energy on movement, but they also catch more. Passive plants wait patiently like a spider in a web for someone to crawl towards them. But they don't have extra costs energy - caught an insect and again calmly wait.
Bladderwort catching a fish fry
All variety of species carnivorous plants uses not too many types of traps. This is due to the fact that mainly leaves evolve into the trap. So nature had no reason to create too many traps. There are five main types of traps:
- leaves rolled into a jug;
- two-leaf traps;
- Velcro on leaf blades;
- traps with the effect of suction into the liquid;
- like a crab claw.
A distinctive feature of these adaptations is the complete absence of any connection between the type of trap and the taxonomic affiliation of the species.
Plants are the antipodes of predators
In addition to plants that eat insects, there are plants that repel flies.
This property is associated with a large number of phytoncides that plants secrete.
However, not all phytoncides are directed specifically against insects; some substances are used to combat competing species. Plants leading chemical warfare with insects, and are called - repellents.
Plants that repel insects
These include:
- tansy;
- Walnut;
- all kinds of geraniums;
- sagebrush;
- lavender;
- various types of mint;
- nasturtium;
- thyme;
- coriander;
- horseradish;
- marigold;
- garlic;
- chives;
- mustard;
- fennel.
Select from the whole variety of types of cultural and wild plants it is very simple for those who are able to scare away not only flies, but also other insects. They are usually not affected by common pests of our gardens and orchards - whiteflies, thrips, aphids and other lovers of juice and green mass. For more information about these plants, see this video:
This is especially noticeable on indoor plants. If you plant a geranium in the contaminated land and a tangerine, a rose or a chrysanthemum nearby, then soon the last three species will be entwined with a mite's web, strewn with thrips and aphids. At the same time, it will not be possible to detect any booger on geraniums. It will scare away all insects, including clothes moth.
What is better to breed indoors
Dealers in unusual flowers got to carnivorous plants.
In supermarkets, you can see dozens of pots with flycatchers, sundews and other small carnivorous plants.
They usually look very sad. These plants do not tolerate such treatment. Their roots are short, the earth in transport pots is usually not fertile, since peat is poured there to reduce the weight of the pots. Plants with a good root system cannot live only on peat, and small green predators die on such a substrate very quickly, especially since no one feeds them meat in stores.
Carnivorous plants are very delicate and do not tolerate transplanting.
If you decide to have exotic predators with green leaves, you should remember that this is not so easy. Most often, sundew is bred at home. It has long been introduced into culture. However, we must not forget the fact that this plant is not only rare in nature, but also endangered, so you need to bring this predator from flower shop and not from a wild swamp.
Those plants that were extracted from nature long ago, many decades ago, roam the shops and window sills. If you dug up a sundew in the wild and planted it in a pot on your windowsill, you broke the law and reduced biodiversity in the ecosystem of swamps and waterlogged forests.
Sundew, like many predators, loves moisture, because often it was life in a humid environment that was a factor in the evolutionary transition to an unusual way of life.
Almost all types of carnivorous plants contained in room conditions need a meat diet. So you will have to periodically witness a rather cruel spectacle - the slow digestion of a living insect. To avoid this, a live insect can be replaced with a small piece, such as beef. It needs to be lightly rubbed with your fingers to make it softer and warmer, and offer the green predator food on tweezers. In nature, the meat of mammals, of course, they do not eat. However, it is still meat, only very saturated with energy, proteins and other nitrogenous compounds.
With such a diet, your predator will begin to grow well. However, it still won’t succeed in growing to the size of a monster from horror films - you can’t deceive genetic information with meat. For more information on how to grow a Venus flytrap at home, see this video:
Of course, keeping a predator plant on your windowsill is fun, but growing plants that repel flies is very useful. So choose what exactly will look best on your windowsill.
Basically, all carnivorous plants grow in areas where the soil contains very little nutrients. By digesting their prey, they obtain nutrients that this soil cannot provide. Below is a list of ten amazing carnivorous plants.
Sarracenia is a genus of carnivorous plants, which gradually moved into the category of indoor plants. Currently, science knows about 10 types of sarracenia. The natural habitat of this plant is the marshy places of North and South America. Careless insects fall into a trap, which is a twisted leaf growing from the root system.
Nepenthes or pitcher
Nepenthes or pitcher - most of these plants grow in the tropical forests of Asia, mainly on the island of Kalimantan, they are also found in the Seychelles, Madagascar, eastern New Guinea, Northern Australia and New Caledonia. Most water lilies are small and can usually only "lure" insects into their trap, but there are larger species in nature that can easily devour small mammals such as rats.
Genlisey
Genlisea is another type of carnivorous plant that “hunts” with a trap. Science knows 21 species of Genlisei growing throughout Africa, Central and South America. These plants have two various types leaves - photosynthetic, which are above the ground, and specialized underground leaves that serve to trap and digest the smallest organisms. The underground leaves also function as roots, which can burrow into the soil up to a depth of 25 cm.
Darlingtonia Californian is the only member of its genus to grow in swamps in northern California and Oregon. At the top of a rather long stem, there is a light green trap jug (60 cm in diameter), emitting a pungent odor that attracts insects. They fall into the trap and can no longer get out there. Insects are digested in the digestive juices of the plant, which thus receives additional nutrients.
Pemphigus
Representatives of the genus pemphigus are composed of about 220 species, they are found in fresh water and moist soil on all continents, absent only in Antarctica and a number of oceanic islands. In 2011, scientists from France and Germany recognized pemphigus as the fastest carnivorous plant in the world. The prey is pulled into the predator's trap in less than a millisecond.
The genus of fatwort has approximately 35 species, they can be found in North and South America, Europe and Asia (about 7 species are found in Russia). One of the upper sides of the leaf secretes sugary mucus, which is a trap for small insects, and the rest of the leaves of this carnivorous plant produce an enzyme that aids in the digestion of insects. Unlike other genera of the pemphigus family, butterflies have real roots.
To date, about 150 species of sundews are known. These plants are found on almost all types of soil and on all continents except Antarctica. The leaves of this perennial produce a sticky substance containing the alkaloid coniine, which has a paralytic effect on insects. After the victim is trapped, the leaf rolls up. Having absorbed all the useful substances, the sundew leaf opens again. These plants can live up to 50 years.
Third place in the list of amazing carnivorous plants is Biblis - a small genus of carnivorous plants, which are low shrubs up to 50 cm tall. They are found in swampy moist soils of Northern Australia and New Guinea, as well as in small areas in Western Australia. The surface of the leaves of the plant is completely covered with glandular hairs that secrete a sticky mucous substance that is a trap for small insects. The Byblis plant looks very similar to the sundew genus (4th place), but they are not closely related.
Aldrovanda vesicularis is a perennial aquatic carnivorous plant that feeds on small aquatic vertebrates. This carnivorous plant can be found in Central and Southern Europe, East Asia, India, Africa, Australia. Aldrovanda vesicularis a floating stem (6–11 cm long) without roots, with leaves covered with hairs, when irritated, the halves of the leaf snap into place (in just 10 milliseconds) and pinch the prey.
The Venus flytrap is one of the most famous carnivorous plants and one of the most cold-blooded, sadistic killers in the animal kingdom. It feeds mainly on insects and arachnids. It grows in a humid temperate climate on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It is a small plant that has 4-7 leaves growing from a short underground stem. Can be grown as indoor plant. A member of a small group of plants capable of rapid movement.
Share on social networks
Carnivorous plants are quite widespread throughout the world. In nature, there are 450 species of similar plants, which are combined into six families. Insects form the basis of their diet, therefore carnivorous plants are often also called insectivorous.
Carnivorous plants are a miracle of nature. They are remarkably adapted to life in places characterized by a lack of nutrients in the soil. These plants have become predators! The need for survival requires them to be able to catch live prey.
Carnivorous plants obtain food in five ways. Some of them use pitcher-shaped trap leaves, others use sticky traps, the next use crabs like traps, the fourth use suction traps, and the fifth use flapping leaves.
Carnivorous plants have "developed" many ways to lure insects. For example, in some predatory plants, the edges of the trapping leaves have a bright red color, while in others, the inner walls of the leaf secrete a sugary substance that attracts insects.
Venus flytrap 
The most famous of the carnivorous plants is the flycatcher (Dionaea muscipula), but its Russian-language name is the Venus flytrap. According to one version, this plant predator was named after the Roman goddess because its trap leaves are shaped like a female genital organ.
The trap itself is located on a short stem and outwardly resembles an open shell of mollusks. Along the edges of the valves there is one row of denticles comparable to long eyelashes. However, all this is just an entourage, while the real weapons are glands and trigger hairs. The glands are located along inside teeth-eyelashes and secrete a sweet-smelling nectar, which is so difficult for insects to pass by. When the victim crawls inside the trap, triggers come into play - they react to touch. The trap does not close immediately, only a few consecutive touches to the triggers (and there are three of them on each leaf) are able to close the trap. Dionea, having received an insect in her trap, begins the process of digestion. The same glands that produced nectar begin to secrete abundant digestive juice, in which the insect drowns. It usually takes several days to digest, after which the valves open again, revealing to the world only the chitinous shell of the victim.
Sundew 
The round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) is practically the only carnivorous plant growing on the territory of the former Soviet Union. It is found mainly in the northern and central regions of our country. The photo shows that it owes its name to small droplets of sticky liquid that are on the hairs that cover the leaves of this plant. These droplets glisten in the sun and are very similar to dew. It is in them that the digestive enzyme lies, which allows the sundew to digest insects, and thus receive the necessary nutrition even on poor peat soils.
It is very interesting to watch how the sundew catches insects. Unlike the Venus flytrap, the sundew does not close its trap. And the point here again is in the droplets covering the leaves. They are sticky enough to deter an insect that has had the imprudence to be seduced by the sweet fragrance of this plant.
After the insect has stuck, the leaf begins to slowly roll up, surrounding its victim with more and more transparent sticky liquid. After the complete folding of the leaf, the process of digestion begins, which usually takes several days. After this process is completed, the leaf unfolds and is again covered with droplets.
Nepenthes 
Spectacular and original pitcher belongs to the genus Nepenthes (Nepenthes), which includes several dozen species of plants of the Nepenthaceae family. unusual shape This flower immediately attracts attention. Even after seeing a photo of Nepentes just once, you can fall in love with him completely and irrevocably. But its main feature is that Nepenthes is a predator flower. Its attractive brightly colored jugs contain a liquid that allows the flower to be digested and used as insect food.
Sarracenia 
Sarracenia, or the North American carnivorous plant, is a genus of carnivorous plants that are found in areas of the east coast of North America, in Texas, in the Great Lakes, in southeastern Canada, but most are found only in the southeastern states.
This plant uses water lily-shaped traps as a trap. The leaves of the plant have developed into a funnel with a hood-like formation that grows over the opening, preventing rainwater from entering, which can dilute the digestive juices. Insects are attracted to color, smell, and secretions like nectar at the edge of a water lily. The slippery surface and the drug that surrounds the nectar encourage insects to fall inward, where they die and are digested by protease and other enzymes.
darlingtonia 
Darlingtonia Californian is the only member of the Darlingtonia genus that grows in northern California and Oregon. It grows in swamps and cold springs. running water and is considered a rare plant.
Darlingtonia leaves are bulbous in shape and form a cavity with a hole under the swollen like balloon, structure and two sharp sheets that hang down like fangs.
Unlike many carnivorous plants, it does not use trapping leaves to trap, but uses a crab claw-type trap. Once the insect is inside, they are confused by the specks of light that pass through the plant. They land in thousands of dense, fine hairs that grow inwards. Insects can follow the hairs deep into the digestive organs, but cannot go back.
Genlisey 
Genlisea consists of 21 species, usually grows in humid terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments and is distributed in Africa and Central and South America.
Genlisea is a small herb with yellow flowers that use a crab claw-type trap. Such traps are easy to get into, but impossible to get out of because of the small hairs that grow towards the entrance or, as in this case, forward in a spiral.
These plants have two distinct types of leaves: photosynthetic leaves above ground and special underground leaves that lure, trap and digest small organisms such as protozoa. The underground leaves also perform the role of roots, such as water absorption and attachment, since the plant itself does not have them. These underground leaves underground form hollow tubes that look like a spiral. Small microbes get into these tubes with the help of a stream of water, but cannot get out of them. By the time they get to the exit, they will already be overcooked.
Pemphigus 
Bladderwort (Utricularia) is a genus of carnivorous plants with 220 species. They are found in fresh water or moist soil as terrestrial or aquatic species on every continent except Antarctica.
They are the only carnivorous plants that use the bubble trap. Most species have very small traps in which they can catch very small prey such as protozoa. Traps range from 0.2 mm to 1.2 cm, and larger prey, such as water fleas or tadpoles, fall into large traps.
The bubbles are under negative pressure relative to the environment. The opening of the trap opens, sucks in the insect and surrounding water, closes the valve, and all this happens in thousandths of a second.
Zhiryanka 
Oilwort (Pinguicula) belongs to a group of carnivorous plants that use sticky, glandular leaves to lure and digest insects. Nutrients obtained from insects supplement the soil, which is poor in minerals. There are approximately 80 species of these plants in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
The leaves of the buttercup are succulent and usually have a bright green or pink color. There are two special kind cells located on the upper side of the leaves. One is known as the peduncle and is made up of secretory cells at the top of a single stem cell. These cells produce a slimy secretion that forms visible droplets on the surface of the leaves and acts like Velcro. Other cells are called sessile glands, and they are found on the surface of the leaf, producing enzymes such as amylase, protease, and esterase, which aid in the digestive process. While many species of butterwort are carnivorous all year round, many types form a dense winter rosette that is not carnivorous. When summer comes, it blooms and has new carnivorous leaves.
Byblis 
Byblis, or rainbow plant, is a small species of carnivorous plant native to Australia. The rainbow plant gets its name from the attractive slime that coats the leaves in the sun. Despite the fact that these plants are similar to sundews, they are not related to the latter in any way and are distinguished by zygomorphic flowers with five curved stamens.
Its leaves have a round section, and most often they are elongated and conical at the end. The surface of the leaves is completely covered with glandular hairs, which secrete a sticky mucous substance that serves as a trap for small insects that land on the leaves or tentacles of the plant.
Aldrovanda vesicularis 
Aldrovanda vesiculosa is a magnificent rootless, carnivorous aquatic plant. It usually feeds on small aquatic vertebrates using a trap trap.
The plant consists mainly of free-floating stems that reach 6-11 cm in length. Leaves-traps, 2-3 mm in size, grow in 5-9 curls in the center of the stem. The traps are attached to the petioles, which contain air that allows the plant to float. It is a fast growing plant and can reach 4-9mm per day and in some cases produce a new curl every day. While the plant grows at one end, the other end gradually dies.
The plant trap consists of two lobes that close like a trap. The holes of the trap are directed outward and covered with fine hairs that allow the trap to close around any prey that comes close enough. The trap closes in tens of milliseconds, which is one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom.
Cephalotus 
Cephalotus is the one and only predator from distant Australia. Despite their tiny size (adult plants usually reach only 7-10 cm), cephalotuses are incredibly attractive and interesting. The plant perfectly copes with the role of a hunter, some tricks help it in this. The slippery edges of jars, sharp spikes that prevent insects from getting out of the trap, and special cells devoid of pigment on the lid of the jar that let in light and create a deceptive impression of "open sky".
And of course, the deadly digestive fluid at the bottom of the trap. Such is the insidious and cunning little cephalotus. However, from the outside it seems defenseless and requiring care and attention. And this is also his little trick.
Heliamphora 
Heliamphora is a predatory beauty native to South America. Its name comes from the places in which it lives, "a jug of swamps" - this is how "Heliamphora" is translated. And indeed, most of all, the plant looks like bright jugs that have grown in inconspicuous gray swamps.
The method of hunting heliamphora is simple and straightforward. The predator attracts insects with nectar, which is produced in the so-called nectar spoon located on the hood of the jug, and when the insect sits on the jug, it literally rolls down the smooth slippery walls inside, where digestion takes place. As they say, everything ingenious is simple.
This is how you think before you start a flower at home.
Did you know that there are several hundred carnivorous plants in the world? No, they are not as scary as in the American movie Little Shop of Horrors. Such flowers feed on insects, tadpoles and even frogs and rats. Interestingly, some predatory plants have long established themselves as useful pets. They claim that home flower, which eats insects, helps fight pests such as mosquitoes, flies, and spiders.
Why did plants switch to animal food?
An insect-eating plant has evolved its diet not from a good life. All species of these carnivores grow on soils with a lack of nitrogen and other useful substances. It is very difficult for them to survive on sandy soils or peat, so some species have adapted to life due to the ability to absorb animal protein. It is animal food that is able to completely renew the reserves of nitrogen and minerals.
Plants use various traps to catch prey. In addition, all plant predators are distinguished by their bright color and attractive smell, which are associated by insects with nectar-bearing flowers. But do not forget that animal food is only "vitamins" for plants, and the main food for them is photosynthesis.
Varieties of carnivorous plants
To date, scientists have described about 500 species of carnivorous plants that belong to 19 families. It can be concluded that the evolutionary development of these groups of organisms occurred in parallel and independently.
The most famous plants that eat insects are:
- sarracenia;
- genlisea;
- darlingtonia;
- pemphigus;
- zhiryanka;
- sundew;
- biblis;
- aldrovanda vesicular;
- Venus flytrap.
An interesting fact: flycatchers have the Latin name muscipula, which in translation into Russian does not mean “flycatcher”, but “mousetrap”. 
The prevalence of entomophagous plants
Carnivorous plants are not only exotic representatives of the biosphere. They are found everywhere - from the equator to the Arctic. Most often they can be found in damp places, especially in swamps. Most of the species are recorded in the southwestern part of Australia. Some species are eurybionts and grow in many biocenoses. The range of other species is more limited - for example, the Venus flytrap is found naturally only in South and North Carolina.
What species grow in Russia
In Russia, there are 13 species of carnivorous plants from 4 genera. The genus Rosyanka is represented by two species: common sundew and English sundew. They grow mainly in sphagnum bogs. Aldrovanda vesicularis found both in the European part Russian Federation, so on Far East and the Caucasus.
The genus Pemphigus in Russia is represented by four species, the most common of which is Pemphigus vulgaris. This aquatic plants, which differ in their growth rate. They are found in shallow waters throughout Russia (with the exception of the Far North). Also in our area you can meet representatives of the Zhiryanka genus, which grow in swamps, banks of streams, and some - on trees and mosses.
Diet of carnivorous flowers
Most carnivorous plants (sunflowers, sarracenia, nepenthes) feed on insects. The diet of aquatic representatives, such as aldrovands or pemphigus, is predominantly small crustaceans. There are also species that prey on larger prey: fish fry, newts, toads and reptiles. One of the largest representatives of predators, Nepenthes Rafflez and Nepenthes Raja feed not only on insects, but also on mammals such as mice and rats. 
Types of Trapping Organs
Predators catch their prey with the help of traps, which, depending on the species, are of several types:
- pitcher leaves. This design has a lid, and inside it is filled with water (nepentes, darlingtonia);
- trap leaves. The modified leaf consists of two flaps with teeth on the edges. When the insect is inside, the valves close (Venus flytrap);
- sticky leaves. On the leaf plates there are special hairs that secrete a sticky secret that attracts insects (dew, oilseed);
- suction traps. Water, together with the victim under pressure, is sucked into a special vial (pemphigus);
- crab claw traps. Victims easily fall into them, but cannot get out because of the hairs growing forward in a spiral (genlisey).
At home, you can keep the following types of carnivorous plants:
- venus flytrap;
- all types of sundews;
- tropical butterworts;
- sarracenia;
- dwarf nepenthes.
In Russia, the most popular indoor predator is the Venus flytrap. A flower pot should be kept on a well-lit windowsill or on a table with artificial lighting. The air temperature in the room should be between 18–25 °C in summer and 10–13 °C in winter. Since the flycatcher is a moisture-loving plant, the soil in the pot must be constantly moistened. Water the plant with clean rain or melt water. 
