Sometimes plants live in conditions that do not supply them with all the salts needed to make their own food and grow. These plants have turned the tables on animals and they have become insectivores. The plants can not stalk and pounce or their prey, so they set traps for them.
The sundew is a small plant found growing on heaths, damp situations. Its leaves have hairs round the edges with droplets of liquid on them. This liquid attracts flies, which land on the leaf. The damp, slightly sticky hairs then close over the insect, trapping it.
The plant then oozes digestive juices on to the fly and absorbs its body proteins.
Other plants trap insects in various ways. The pitcher plant has leaves which form containers like pot bellied vases. These leaves are partly filled with a liquid that attracts insects, which fall in and are digested.
Bladderwort traps underwater insects in a similar way while the Venus Fly trap has spiked leaves which close over insects which land on them. All these plants absorb the nitrates from the animal's body.
The sundew is a small plant found growing on heaths, damp situations. Its leaves have hairs round the edges with droplets of liquid on them. This liquid attracts flies, which land on the leaf. The damp, slightly sticky hairs then close over the insect, trapping it.
The plant then oozes digestive juices on to the fly and absorbs its body proteins.
Other plants trap insects in various ways. The pitcher plant has leaves which form containers like pot bellied vases. These leaves are partly filled with a liquid that attracts insects, which fall in and are digested.
Bladderwort traps underwater insects in a similar way while the Venus Fly trap has spiked leaves which close over insects which land on them. All these plants absorb the nitrates from the animal's body.