  Flies, ants and wasps are attracted by the color and nectar of the American pitcher plant ( Sarracenia) hybrids.
 An unfortunate prey of a forked sundew ( Drosera multifida). The fly discovered too late that the droplets that seem to be nectar are actually glue. As the fly struggled, the tentacles and leaves moved and curled to prevent its escape.
 The pitcher plant ( Sarracenia) is easily hybridized, a boon to serious gardeners who love to experiment with developing new varieties.
 Butterworts have leaves that are covered with a sticky glue. Tiny insects such as fruit flies and gnats can't escape. Here, Mexican butterwort ( Pinguicula moranensis).
 The cylinder of pitcher plants (here, a tropical pitcher plant ( Nepenthes x rokko), has a leaf overhead that helps keep out rainwater.
 The Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula) closes its hinged halves over an insect and spends the next four to ten days consuming it.
 REAL VIDEO
Click the icon above to watch hungry carnivorous plants eating dinner.
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Most plants might call bugs the enemy, but for these plants, bugs mean lunch. Carnivorous plants derive their nutrients from flesh--mostly that of insects, but also spiders, worms, frogs and lizards.
"A garden usually brings up images of beauty and relaxation, but our garden is pretty savage," says Peter D'Amato somewhat dryly. "We have a policy of B.Y.O.B. (bring your own bugs); we'll supply the tweezers." Welcome to the world of sundews, bladderworts and pitcher plants.
D'Amato discovered carnivorous plants when he was a boy, and he has been hooked ever since. Today, he's the co-owner of California Carnivores in Forestville, California, and has a collection of more than 500 varieties of these meat eaters. Why the fascination? Sure, as a lad it was fun to take a horsefly that had just bitten him and feed it to his Venus flytrap, and he still thinks it's fun to have plants that eat bugs. But there's more.
"The carnivorous aspect is extremely fascinating, very bizarre and entertaining," D'Amato says, "but after a while, most collectors grow their plants for their beauty."
Exotic in foliage with often striking flowers, carnivorous plants grow naturally in bogs, and depending on species, in a wide variety of climates. Some are tropical, other are subtropical, and still others can take hard winters--such as a species of sundew (Drosera linearis), which is hardy to Zone 3.
Carnivorous plants have developed several ways to capture their prey: sundews catch their prey with a sticky goo, some use a trigger mechanism to catch and hold bugs, and still others lure insects with narcotic nectar. The narcotic--for the pitcher plant, it's thought to be coniine--causes bugs to get drunk, slip on the waxy inner surface of the pitcher, and fall into a pool of digestive juices inside the plant. There, the bugs dissolve; only the exoskeletons remain.
Venus flytraps require live food so that tiny hairs inside the plant are triggered when the insect struggles. "When the trap closes and seals itself, it forms a pocket and the plant secretes digestive juices," says D'Amato.
Such an advanced method of nutrient gathering suggests that carnivorous plants are highly evolved, but exactly how long these plants have been in existence is a controversial subject. Carnivorous plant fossils are rare, making it difficult to trace the lineage of these beautiful and mysterious plants.
There are misconceptions about the culture of carnivorous plants, says D'Amato. Feeding them is often not necessary, and feeding them hamburger and other people-food is exactly the wrong thing to do.
"It's something that I don't recommend," warns D'Amato. "Venus flytraps will eat things like cheese, and you can feed sundews a little bit of chocolate and they'll certainly drool all over it, but [feeding food other than bugs] isn't something that people should do regularly. For one thing, if the food is a bigger chunk than what the plant can handle, mold will develop, and that can be harmful to the plant."
If your plants are growing outdoors, they'll get plenty to eat on their own. Flying insects and ants are the usual fare. Indoors, they'll need to eat a hefty meal once a month or so. If your home is insect-free, you might want to give your Venus flytrap a few houseflies or a baker's dozen of crickets to your pitcher plant.
Before you bring a carnivorous plant home, research its needs. Indoors, they need high light (and direct sun for at least a few hours), and most want a shallow saucer of low-mineral water. Some carnivorous plants go dormant in the winter and don't require food until spring, when bugs reappear.
And that's when the fun begins.
Resources California Carnivores
California Carnivores
Sebastopol, CA
Phone: 707-824-0433
E-mail:
califcarn@aol.com
Website:
www.californiacarnivores.com
Carnivorous Plants
by Adrian Slack (ISBN: 0262690896)
The Savage Garden
by Peter D'Amato (ISBN: 0898159156)
Ten Speed Press
PO Box 7123
Berkeley, CA 94707
Phone: 510-559-1600
Toll-free: 800-841-2665
E-mail:
order@tenspeed.com
Website:
www.tenspeed.com
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