Past History of Carnivorous Plants
Much has been said about plants that can eat animals. The truth is
not quite so dramatic. At the present time no man-eating plants are
known to exist. But there are plants around that are truly carnivorous,
(flesh-eating), which have as their prey insects, small birds and even
small monkeys.
These plants use a variety of traps to capture their
food. They include traps which when touched snap shut after sucking
victims in, and send out a sticky substance which makes escape as
difficult as climbing out of a honey jar; plants that have a pit fall
which at its best has a digestive liquid which dissolves prey away; or
plants with an inner structure like a mirror maze with a hidden door. Over the last few years the fascination and beauty of
Carnivorous Plants
has been described by many people. It is sometimes thought that this is
a new discovery, but the insect-eaters were very popular last century as
well. In fact in Victorian times a glass-house was not considered
complete unless it had large dangling Carnivorous Plants hanging from
the rafters. So after a century of neglect we are now rediscovering this
fascinating form of plant.
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