Among representatives of the plant world, there are specimens that prefer not only carbon dioxide and water as food, but also insects and small animals. These are carnivorous plants, forced to eat this way due to 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 certain climatic conditions, which gives 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 a trap shape;
- sticky leaves and a sweet secret;
- drag traps;
- traps in the shape of a crab claw.
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 up 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 leaves in the shape of a water lily, which is a trap. They grow in the tropics in Eurasia, Africa, Australia and islands located in this climate zone. The second name of this plant is “monkey cup”. It was obtained during observation of primates who drank rainwater from these flowers.
About 200 are known, most of them are tall vines, 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. The stem contains 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 large bowl. This cup collects the liquid synthesized by the nepenthes, which can be sticky or watery, depending on the type of flower. Insects drown in it and, dissolving, form Nepenthes food. In addition to small arthropods, some representatives of this flower also eat small mammals.
Sundew and Zhiryanka
Another major representative carnivorous plants, having 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 secretion. Sitting on a sweet leaf, the insect sticks, and the tentacles slowly but surely force it to move towards the trap. Here, special glands absorb the insect and digest it. Sundews are used as houseplants to control small insects.
Butterwort acts in the same way, using sticky leaves to lure and eat insects. About 80 representatives of this type of carnivores are known; they grow in soils poor in minerals and salts on the American continents, Europe and Asia. The bright green or pink leaves of the flower have special cells that produce sticky mucus. Distributed over the surface in the form of drops, it turns it into Velcro, in which the legs of insects get stuck. Other cells produce digestive enzymes that break down food. Zhiryanka also feels great among house plants, 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 by a head. The head consists of two plates that look like a heart. The plates are slightly concave and long, with cilia on the edges. A trap is formed from them. Inner surface the heads produce 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. This happens in a tenth of a second, so a careless fly has no chance of escaping. The cilia, quite hard and sharp, securely hold the victim. The leaves of the flower begin to grow, joining at the edges and forming a stomach in which enzymes break down prey.
A fairly developed plant that can distinguish living flesh from non-living ones. If, instead of an insect, the sensors are irritated with a foreign object, it will reflexively close the head, but after a few seconds it will open again.
Genlisea and Darlingtonia californica
Genlisea lives in humid subtropical climates and is not suitable for home use. It is a short herb 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. Leaves located above ground level participate in the process of photosynthesis, while underground leaves serve to feed protozoan microorganisms and bacteria. In addition, underground leaves absorb moisture and perform strengthening functions, because Genlisea has no roots. The leaves form hollow spiral tubes into which microbes enter. It is not customary to grow Genlisea as indoor plants.
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 that resemble dangling fangs. But although the leaves are trappers, the flower itself is used as a trap in the form of a claw. Rays of light shine through the plant, which deceive the insects into moving inside. The movement occurs along thin fibers that grow towards the core and prevent return.
Pemphigus and biblis
Bladderwort 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 for catching simple organisms, and large ones for larger prey. Sometimes water fleas or even tadpoles get into them. The hunt 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 how home plant, it is better to plant it near an artificial pond.
Byblis is better known as the rainbow plant. Australia is considered the homeland of this carnivorous representative of the flora, and its name was given by the mucus that covers the leaves and shimmers on sun rays. Externally, biblis is similar to sundew. The flower has leaves with a round cross-section; they are elongated, cone-shaped towards the end. They are completely covered with a mucous secretion, which attracts prey to the leaves and tentacles. These are wonderful indoor plants that feel comfortable at home.
Video Predatory plants
Until recently, the flower that eats flies was considered a figment of fantasy, manipulation of facts and scientific errors. Charles Darwin, already famous for his theory of evolution, was heavily criticized for describing a plant that eats flies.
Moreover, for some reason, Darwin’s opponents believed that insectivorous plants refuted 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 predator plants was not only confirmed, but fit well into the theory of the origin of species.
Why do plants eat animals?
The image of a 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 energy-rich organic compound.
This description of the photosynthesis process is actually too simplified.
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 a plant switched to an animal method of nutrition, then why shouldn’t animals gain the ability to photosynthesise?
However, today photosynthetic animals eat only in the world of single-celled organisms. Among multicellular animals, there is not a single species that has switched at least partially to the process of photosynthesis. The sloth's green fur doesn't count - it doesn't photosynthesize. Algae just grows there - after all, a large animal prefers a sedentary lifestyle, and the air in the jungle is always humid.
It's all about lifestyle. Evolution is the antipode 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 feature or trap, depending on which way you look at it. Animals can move, some do it very well. And this is also an advantage, a sign and an evolutionary cage from which they cannot escape. For more information about predatory flowers, watch this video:
An animal can migrate, move in search of food, and engage in fights for a place in the sun. For this reason, evolution works to ensure that animals acquire the ability to run, hide, cheat, steal, kill rivals, change the biotope, etc.
Plants do not have this opportunity. They are forced 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 confines of its biotope is forced to adapt only to the conditions of this biotope. However, there is competition almost everywhere, except in very extreme conditions. In environments where plants that eat animals live, there are also many competitors. And most importantly, there is little nitrogen there. This element is the basis for the formation of complex organic molecules, including proteins.
Carnivorous plants have found a convenient way to compete with other plants for nutrients
Evolution has given some species of plants that are stuck in nitrogen deficiency a way out—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 gastronomic preferences, but the size of the organisms.
Perhaps green predators would feed on larger game, but their small size does not allow them to do so.
Predatory or carnivorous plants are a collective name rather than a taxonomic one. There are about 630 species with this specificity. They are representatives of nineteen families, which include not only predators, but also completely normal plants. 
The amazing thing is that carnivorous plants are found all over the world and in different environmental conditions. They are united by only one thing - a deficiency of nitrogen in the soil or the inability to take it due to great competition.
Typically, any fly-beetle plant is a herbaceous perennial. On the territory of Russia and the CIS, 18 species, included in 4 genera and 2 families, feed on animals. These are the families of sundews and bladderworts.
The sundew family unites a small number of species that have characteristics of dicotyledonous and clove plants. This family includes three genera, all representatives of which are carnivorous plants.
These are perennial rhizomatous plants that grow in swamps. Oddly enough, but in the swamps temperate zone, where so much dead organic matter has accumulated, there is a nitrogen deficiency, because in cold water the decomposition of organic matter to nitrates occurs extremely slowly. In addition, plants immersed in swamp water do not grow well because cold water cannot be absorbed properly. Accordingly, without water there is no influx of minerals. For more information about pemphigus, watch this video:
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Pemphigus, which gives the family its name, has a wide range. It is not found only in Antarctica. These are aquatic carnivorous plants without roots, but with a large number of trapping bubbles. Each of them has holes with a valve. This is a typical trap into which small animals can enter, but they cannot leave. They have only one thing left to do - to become food for the plant.
Most carnivorous plants are perennial herbs, but there are several species that belong to subshrubs and even shrubs. They are classified as species that have a narrow adaptation to environmental conditions. Typically, such species are distinguished by their unusual and bizarre adaptive reactions.
Biblis giant
Variety of traps
All carnivorous plants, according to the method of catching, are divided into those who catch actively and passively. Active catchers have special baits that move and thereby attract the attention of insects. This group includes sundew and flycatcher.
Passive catchers form traps in the form of sticky and mucous secretions on the leaves, jugs, and bubbles.
It is difficult to understand whose strategy is better, but since these adaptations exist, it means it is beneficial for this species. Flycatcher and sundew spend energy on movement, but they also catch more. Passive plants wait patiently, like a spider in its 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;
- traps made of two leaves;
- Velcro on leaf blades;
- traps with the effect of being sucked into liquid;
- something like a crab claw.
A distinctive feature of these devices is the complete absence of any connection between the type of trap and the taxonomic affiliation of the species.
Plants are antipodes to predators
In addition to plants that eat insects, there are also plants that repel flies.
This property is associated with a large amount 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, they are called repellents.
Plants that repel insects
These include:
- tansy;
- Walnut;
- all types of geraniums;
- sagebrush;
- lavender;
- various types of mint;
- nasturtium;
- thyme;
- coriander;
- horseradish;
- marigold;
- garlic;
- chives;
- mustard;
- fennel.
Select from the entire variety of cultural and wild plants precisely those who are able to scare away not only flies, but also other insects, very simply. They are usually not affected by common pests of our gardens and vegetable gardens - whiteflies, thrips, aphids and other lovers of juice and green mass. For more information about such plants, watch 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 find any boogers on the geranium. It will repel all insects, including clothes moths.
What is best to grow indoors?
Traders of unusual flowers also reached 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 well. 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 tender and do not tolerate transplantation well.
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, wander through shops and window sills. If you dug up a sundew from the wild and planted it in a pot on your windowsill, you have broken the law and reduced biodiversity in the ecosystem of swamps and waterlogged forests.
The sundew, like many predators, loves moisture, since it was often 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, the live insect can be replaced with a small piece of beef, for example. You need to lightly rub it with your fingers to make it softer and warmer, and offer the green predator food using tweezers. In nature, they do not eat mammalian meat, of course. However, it is still meat, only very rich in 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 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 species 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 plant
Nepenthes or pitcher plant - most of these plants grow in the tropical forests of Asia, mainly on the island of Kalimantan, but are also found in the Seychelles, Madagascar, eastern New Guinea, Northern Australia and New Caledonia. Most pitcher plants are small in size and, as a rule, can only “lure” insects into their trap, but in nature there are larger species that can easily absorb small mammals such as rats.
Genlisey
Genlisea is another species of carnivorous plants that “hunts” using a trap. Science knows of 21 species of Genlisea, growing throughout Africa, Central and South America. These plants have two various types leaves - photosynthetic ones, which are found above the ground, and specialized underground leaves, which serve to trap and digest the smallest organisms. The underground leaves also function as roots, which can penetrate the soil to a depth of 25 cm.
Darlingtonia californica is the only member of its genus that grows in swamps in northern California and Oregon. At the top of a rather long stem, there is a trap jug (60 cm in diameter) of a light green color, which emits a pungent odor that attracts insects. They fall inside the trap and can no longer get out. Insects are digested in the digestive juices of the plant, which thus receives additional nutrients.
Pemphigus
Representatives of the genus Pemphigus consist of about 220 species, they are found in fresh water and moist soil on all continents, are absent only in Antarctica and a number of oceanic islands. In 2011, scientists from France and Germany recognized bladderwort as the fastest carnivorous plant in the world. The prey is drawn into the predator's trap in less than a millisecond.
The genus of butterwort 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 a sugary mucus, which is a trap for small insects, and the remaining leaves of this carnivorous plant produce an enzyme that helps digest insects. Unlike other genera of the bladderwort family, butterworts have true roots.
Today, about 150 species of sundews are known. These plants are found in almost all types of soil and on all continents except Antarctica. The leaves of this perennial secrete a sticky substance containing the alkaloid coniine, which has a paralytic effect on insects. After the victim has fallen into the trap, the leaf is rolled 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 vesicle is a floating stem (6-11 cm long) without roots, with leaves covered with hairs, when irritated, the leaf halves 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. Member of a small group of plants capable of rapid movement.
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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 carnivorous plants, the edges of the trapping leaves are bright red, while in others, the inner walls of the leaves secrete a sugary substance, which attracts insects.
Venus flytrap 
The most famous of the carnivorous plants is Dionaea muscipula, but its Russian name is 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 looks like an open mollusk shell. Along the edges of the valves there is one row of denticles, comparable to long eyelashes. However, all this is just an entourage; the real weapons are the trigger glands and 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. Dionaea, having received an insect in its trap, begins the digestion process. 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 sparkle in the sun and look very much like 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 slam 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 just once you see a photo of a Nepenthes, you can fall in love with it completely and irrevocably. But its main feature is that Nepenthes is a predator flower. Its attractive, colorful pitchers contain liquid that allows the flower to be digested and used as food for insects.
Sarracenia 
Sarracenia, or North American carnivorous plant, is a genus of carnivorous plants that are found in areas of the east coast of North America, Texas, the Great Lakes, and southeastern Canada, but most are found only in the southeastern states.
This plant uses water lily-shaped trapping leaves as a trap. The plant's leaves have become a funnel with a hood-like structure that grows over the hole, preventing rainwater from entering, which could dilute the digestive juices. Insects are attracted to the color, smell and nectar-like secretions at the edge of the water lily. The slippery surface and narcotic substance lining the nectar cause insects to fall inside, where they die and are digested by protease and other enzymes.
darlingtonia 
Darlingtonia californica is the only member of the Darlingtonia genus that grows in northern California and Oregon. It grows in swamps and springs with cold running water and is considered a rare plant.
Darlingtonia leaves have a bulbous shape and form a cavity with a hole located under the swollen, like balloon, structure and two sharp leaves that hang down like fangs.
Unlike many carnivorous plants, it does not use trap leaves to trap them, but instead 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 thick, fine hairs that grow inward. Insects can follow the hairs deep into the digestive organs, but cannot return back.
Genlisey 
Composed of 21 species, Genlisea typically grows in moist terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments and is distributed in Africa and Central and South America.
Genlisea is a small herb with yellow flowers, which use a crab claw type trap. These traps are easy to get into, but impossible to get out of because of the small hairs that grow towards the entrance or, in this case, forward in a spiral.
These plants have two different types of leaves: photosynthetic leaves above ground and specialized underground leaves that lure, trap and digest small organisms such as protozoa. The underground leaves also serve as roots, such as water absorption and anchorage, since the plant itself does not have any. These underground leaves form hollow tubes underground that look like a spiral. Small microbes are drawn into these tubes by the flow of water, but cannot escape from them. By the time they reach the exit, they will already be digested.
Pemphigus 
Bladderwort (Utricularia) is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of 220 species. They are found in fresh water or moist soil as terrestrial or aquatic species on all continents except Antarctica.
These are the only carnivorous plants that use a 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 traps catch larger prey such as water fleas or tadpoles.
Bubbles are under negative pressure relative to their surroundings. The trap's opening opens, sucks in the insect and surrounding water, closes the valve, and all this happens in thousandths of seconds.
Zhiryanka 
Butterwort (Pinguicula) belongs to a group of carnivorous plants that use sticky, glandular leaves to lure and digest insects. Nutrients from insects supplement mineral-poor soil. There are approximately 80 species of these plants in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
The leaves of butterwort are succulent and usually have a bright green or pink color. There are two special types cells located on the upper side of the leaves. One is known as the pedicel gland and consists of secretory cells located at the top of a single stem cell. These cells produce a mucous 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 butterwort species are carnivorous all year, many types form a dense winter rosette that is not carnivorous. When summer comes, it blooms and produces 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 its leaves in the sun. Although these plants are similar to sundews, they are in no way related to the latter and are distinguished by zygomorphic flowers with five curved stamens.
Its leaves have a round cross-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 vesiculata 
Aldrovanda Vesiculosa is a magnificent rootless, carnivorous aquatic plant. It typically feeds on small aquatic vertebrates using a snare trap.
The plant consists mainly of free-floating stems that reach 6-11 cm in length. Trap leaves, 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 whorl every day. While the plant grows at one end, the other end gradually dies.
The plant trap consists of two lobes that slam shut like a trap. The trap's openings point outward and are covered with fine hairs that allow the trap to close around any prey that comes close enough. The trap slams shut in tens of milliseconds, one of the fastest examples of movement 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 copes well with the role of a hunter, and certain tricks help it in this. Slippery edges of the jugs, sharp spines-growths that prevent insects from getting out of the trap, and special cells devoid of pigment on the lid of the jug, which allow light to pass through and create a deceptive impression of “open sky.”
And of course, the deadly digestive fluid at the bottom of the trap. Such an insidious and cunning little cephalotus. However, from the outside he seems defenseless and requires 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, “jar of swamps” - this is how “Heliamphora” is translated. Indeed, most of all the plant resembles bright pitchers that grew in inconspicuous gray swamps.
The heliamphora's hunting method 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 lands on the jug, it literally rolls down the smooth slippery walls inside, where digestion occurs. As they say, everything ingenious is simple.
This is what you should think about 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 film Little Shop of Horrors. Such flowers feed on insects, tadpoles and even frogs and rats. Interestingly, some predator plants have long established themselves as useful pets. They claim that home flower, which eats insects, helps control pests such as mosquitoes, flies and spiders.
Why did plants switch to animal food?
A plant that eats insects has evolutionarily changed its diet not because of a good life. All species of these carnivores grow on soils lacking 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 thanks to the ability to digest animal protein. It is animal food that can completely renew reserves of nitrogen and minerals.
Plants use various traps to catch prey. In addition, all plant predators are distinguished by their bright colors and attractive smell, which insects associate with nectar-bearing flowers. But do not forget that animal food is only “vitamins” for plants, and the main nutrition for them is photosynthesis.
Varieties of carnivorous plants
To date, scientists have described about 500 species of carnivorous plants that belong to 19 families. We can conclude that the evolutionary development of these groups of organisms occurred in parallel and independently.
The most famous plants that eat insects:
- sarracenia;
- genlisea;
- Darlingtonia;
- pemphigus;
- zhiryanka;
- sundew;
- biblis;
- Aldrovanda vesica;
- Venus flytrap.
Interesting fact: flycatchers have the Latin name muscipula, which translated into Russian does not mean “flytrap”, but “mousetrap”. 
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 you can stumble upon them in damp places, especially in swamps. Most species have been 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 in nature exclusively in South and North Carolina.
What species grow in Russia
In Russia there are 13 species of carnivorous plants from 4 genera. The genus Sundew is represented by two species: common sundew and English sundew. They grow mainly in sphagnum bogs. Aldrovanda vesicularis is found both in the European part Russian Federation, so on Far East and the Caucasus.
The Pemphigus genus 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 find representatives of the Zhiryanka genus, which grow in swamps, stream banks, and some on trees and mosses.
Diet of carnivorous flowers
Most carnivorous plants (sundews, sarracenias, nepenthes) feed on insects. The diet of aquatic representatives, such as aldrovands or bladderworts, consists mainly of small crustaceans. There are also species that hunt larger prey: fish fry, newts, toads and reptiles. Some of the largest representatives of predators, Nepenthes rafflesa and Nepenthes raja, feed not only on insects, but also on mammals such as mice and rats. 
Types of Trap Organs
Predators catch their victims using trap organs, which, depending on the species, are of several types:
- pitcher leaves. This design has a lid and the inside is filled with water (Nepenthes, Darlingtonia);
- leaves-traps. The modified leaf consists of two valves with teeth on the edges. When the insect is inside, the valves close (Venus flytrap);
- Velcro leaves. On the leaf plates there are special hairs that secrete a sticky secretion that attracts insects (sundew, butterwort);
- suction traps. Water along with the victim is sucked under pressure into a special bubble (pemphigus);
- crab claw traps. Victims easily fall into them, but cannot get out because of the hairs growing forward in a spiral (genlisea).
The following types of carnivorous plants can be kept at home:
- Venus flytrap;
- all types of sundews;
- tropical butterworts;
- sarracenia;
- dwarf nepenthes.
In Russia, the most popular indoor predator is the Venus flytrap. The flower pot should be kept on a well-lit windowsill or on a table with artificial lighting. The indoor air temperature in summer should be between 18–25 °C, and in winter – 10–13 °C. Since the flytrap is a moisture-loving plant, the soil in the pot must be constantly moistened. The plant should be watered with clean rain or melt water. 
