All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Mystery of God: carnivorous plants
Carnivorous plants are such a mystery of God; they are beautiful, cunning and great predators - shocking when you consider how the vast majority of them are delicate looking (or have beautiful, dainty flowers). I absolutely love these and cannot believe the sheer variety out there! If you have any photographs of carnivorous plants please do share them! Below are just a few of the photos I've taken over the last two years. I have misplaced a large quantity of my photographs so these ones will have to do while I look around for the others. There are at least twelve genera of carnivorous plants including:
Dionaea muscipula
The most widely known carnivorous plant, the Dionaea muscipula (or Venus fly trap), is a unique plant that lures insects to it and traps them by snapping its mouths shut and sealing the insect inside. These incredible creations time when to close their traps to stop false triggering through the use of hairs on the inside of the traps; if an insect triggers three hairs within around fifteen seconds, the trap closes, if not then that timer is "reset". It takes a great amount of energy for the traps to close and so they have been gifted this ability to seemingly reduce the chance of them wasting vital energy. There is only one species of Dionaea muscpiula, it is the only plant of its genus, but there are dozens of varieties ("clones" or "cultivars") on the market.
Pinguicula
The Pinguicula is my favourite genus of carnivorous plant. There are three groups: cold temperate, warm temperate and Mexican; the photograph is of a Pinguicula grandiflora, a cold temperate species native to the UK. These plants get their common name, butterwort, from the buttery-like mucus they exude on their leaves. This mucus attracts and traps insects and then digests them. Cold temperate species often die back in winter to a bud known as a hibernacula to protect themselves from frost, whereas most Mexican species have two growth states: carnivorous and succulent. Their carnivorous state means they can digest bugs whereas their succulent state is designed to protect them in the cold winter.
Heliamphora
The Heliamphora (or sun pitcher) is a carnivorous plant native to the tepuis (table-topped mountains) of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. They attract and catch insects that fall into their traps (known as pitchers) which are then digested by a combination of enzymes.
Utricularia
Utricularia are also known as bladderworts due to how they catch their prey; the roots of the plant are covered in tiny bladders that use a trapdoor system to suck prey inside. The leaves of this vastly varying plant are harmless and they have beautiful flowers that appear with gusto. It was hoped that the glass cube pictured above would allow me to observe the roots of my two Utricularia species (U. sandersonii and U. calycifida) but it would seem that the plants had other ideas! Due to how the sun heats the soil through the glass, the environment beneath the soil has proven to be ideal for the U. calycifida (which is from a warm, humid climate). There are three groups of Utricularia: terrestrial, aquatic and epiphytic.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on
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Splendid presentation, I'll dig up old photos of some growing wild on a peat bog island about 60 miles from here and get them scanned in. Not sure what quality will e since taken way back before digitals.
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Permalink Reply by feet breath on
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I never really thought about those plants before. It certainly shows off the glory of God though! :0)
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Lol, finally working on the photos of the bog island, almost a week behind on computer, mostly AAG. "to do" list.
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Cranberry Bog Nature Preserve (Cranberry Bog)
Cranberry Bog lies about 100 yards from the North shore of Buckeye Lake in the northeastern extreme of Fairfield County, south-central Ohio. Access to the island is only by boat and is only allowed by permit only from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, and except for Wildlife personnel and a few researchers; only the boardwalk area is to be walked upon due to the fragile nature of the bog mat. The one exception to access by permit only is held each June during the peak of Orchid blooming when a lottery is held that chooses 480 people who are allowed to attend a guided tour during the bog's annual open house, June 22nd.
Buckeye Lake was once a swamp that was to be turned into a reservoir to feed the Ohio and Erie Canal system. The plan however didn't work because the new lake was too shallow to feed the canal for barge traffic especially during the dry season. (And of course, by the time the canal was half built, it became obsolete due to the railroad expansion across the US.) Strangely enough, it was the impoundment of the swamp in 1830 which made Cranberry Bog so unique. As the waters backed up behind the dike, all of the big swamp was inundated and destroyed, except the very youngest and therefore most buoyant segment of the bog mat. Instead of disappearing beneath the mucky waters, as did most of the adjacent swamp forest, a 50-acre upper segment of the bog mat along the north shore stretched and expanded like a giant waterlogged sponge and rose 8 feet with the new water level. No longer did the floating bog mat surround the glacial lake as is typically the case with such bogs. Now the lake surrounded the bog mat, the only known such occurrence of its kind in the world.
Cranberry plants cover most of the island, trees that grow there only last until they reach a certain size, then their roots tear free from the bog may and topple. The bog's native plants include many species from the time when the area was the stopping point of the last North American glacier and includes rare orchids and carnivorous plants including two species of Sundew Drosera rotundifolia and D. intermedia, the Northern Pitcher Plant Sarracenia purpurea, and the Venus Flytrap Dionaea muscipula.
From its original size of 50 acres in 1830, the island has now shrunk to 12 due to natural wave erosion but primarily due to Buckeye Lake being the regions main recreational area, including large powerboats. Although for half a century the state has attempted to control motor boat wake erosion by "no wake area" signs and warnings along with penalties, full time enforcement has been spotty, and far too little too late. It is estimated that the island will cease to exist by the end of the first third of the 21st century.
Having lived off and on from birth about 40 miles away, I have been fortunate to visit the bog twice, once during an Advanced Placement Biology class as a senior in high school, and again, two years later as an excelerated honors Biology undergratuate student at Bowling Green State University.
It will be a sad day when the island finally breaks apart and sinks for a truely unique remanent of the ice age will vanish. At least a decent photographic record will exist, along with various studies, species surveys and an assortment of both Thesis and Dissertations being in existance. And a handful of arboreums (such as Dawes, Ohio State) have representative collections of the various unique plant species.
Photo is the boat dock sign. -
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Boardwalk on the island is a big cross shape, lots of Canadian species plants. Acids from the peat constantly decay the boardwalk so it's usually pretty rickety.
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Other than Sphagnum sp. (peat moss) which makes up the bog itself, the dominant species is Cranberries, Vaccinium macrocarpon.
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The bog has 68 species of terrestrial Orchids, this is the most common, Calopogon tuberosus. All of the orchid species bloom June and July, with the last week of June being the height of the blooming season.
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Sundew Closeup of the leaf with hairs with sticky fluid. Insects are attracted by the sweet scent and get stuck by the liquid, which also contains enzymes which dissolve the soft parts.
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Patch of Northern Pitcher Plants, Sarracenia purpurea. The species name "purpurea" is in reference to their turning purple when in the flowering stage.
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Pitcher Plant closeup. The large center one shows it being nearly full of a rainwater and excreted enzyme solution. The scent attracts insects who slip on the slick lip surface and fall in then are dissolved.
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Venus Flytrap Plant, Dionea muscipula. As Rachel wrote, if an insect attracted by its scent lands on an open pod and activates the hair trap mechanism that then snaps shut the halves, trapping it's dinner. At this point the enzymes add the appropriate herbs, spices and condiments to season it's dinner. I will be discreet in adding the comment that there is a reason for the Latin genera name of "Venus".
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