Carnivorous Plants

[nancylebov]

A review of Growing Carnivorous Plants by Barry Rice.

He even gives coverage to plants that qualify as carnivores-by-proxy: for instance, the plant Roridula looks like a sundew, but it secretes resin instead of mucus as an adhesive to snag insects. Since resin prevents the transfer of liquid nutrients to the plant, it instead depends upon symbiotic assassin bugs to feed upon trapped prey, and the bugs' feces fertilize the plant. Others, such as Proboscidea (better known as "devil's claw", used to describe the dried seed pods), may be carnivorous, at least at one point of their life cycles, and Rice gives them as suggestions for further research.