How Do Carnivorous Plants Digest Food?
Carnivorous plants are those that eat insects, such as the Venus flytrap. These plants are adapted so that they can easily trap insects and use them as nutrients. There are several types of trapping mechanisms utilized by carnivorous plants to trap and digest their prey. Does this Spark an idea?
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Snap Trap
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The snap trap is possibly the most recognizable form of trapping used by carnivorous plants. A snap trap utilizes hinged leaves covered with trigger hairs. These tiny hairs cause the leaves to snap shut when triggered, trapping the plant's prey. The Venus flytrap and waterwheel plants use this type of trapping mechanism.
Suction Trap
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The Botanical Society of America states that the suction trap is unique to the bladderwort plant only. They are very similar to snap traps in the sense that they are hinged leaves lined with trigger hairs. The leaves are in the shape of a bladder and use the trigger hairs to trap their prey.
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Pitfall Trap
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This type of trap is unique to the pitcher plant. Their leaves are folded into slippery pools that contain a variety of digestive enzymes. Once the prey slips down into the pool these enzymes function to digest the insect.
Flypaper Trap
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Flypaper traps are extremely simple in their method of trapping their prey. The leaves of plants utilizing this type of trap excrete a sticky substance similar to mucus. Insects become trapped in the sticky goo and cannot escape, ending up as plant food.
Lobster-pot Trap
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Lobster-pot traps are unique to the corkscrew plant. These are twisted tubular channels that are lined with trigger hairs and sticky substances. The plant's prey is trapped by the hair and mucus-like substance secreted by the leaves.
Digestion
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Digestion occurs via digestive enzymes that are secreted by the plants. According to the website Wayne's Word, the majority of these digestive enzymes are secreted by the leaves of the plants. Pitcher plants are the only exception to this rule. Their digestive enzymes are pooled at the bottom of the leaves and begin the digestion process when the prey reaches that point.
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References
- Photo Credit Fly on fly image by Panta87 from Fotolia.com
