Carnivorous plants have evolved specialized trapping mechanisms to obtain nutrients from the insects and small animals they capture. There are five main trapping types - pitfall traps like pitcher plants, flypaper traps with sticky secretions, snap traps that rapidly close like Venus flytraps, bladder traps that use suction, and lobster pot traps with inward-pointing hairs. Examples of carnivorous plants from around the world are described for each trap type, with details on their trapping mechanisms and habitats. Specific genera mentioned include Sarracenia, Nepenthes, Drosera, Utricularia, Dionaea, and Genlisea.

1. An Introduction to Carnivorous
plants
Christophe Maerten – March 2016

2. Carnivourous what ??
Carnivourous plants are plants who attract, trap, kill and diggest animals,
insects and protozoae.
Carnivorous plants have adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or
poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs, tree trunks and
rock outcroppings.
True carnivory is thought to have evolved independently nine times in five
different orders of flowering plants,and is represented by more than a
dozen genera. This classification includes at least 583 species that attract,
trap and kill prey, absorbing the resulting available nutrients.Additionally,
over 300 protocarnivorous species in several genera show some but not all
of these characteristics.

3. Carnivorous plants have two trapping
mechanism
The way of catching they prey is active or passive with each of them
different trapping methods. Five basic trapping mechanisms are found
in carnivorous plants.
• Pitfall traps (pitcherplants) trap prey in a rolled leaf that contains a pool of
digestive enzymes or bacteria
• Flypaper traps use a sticky mucilage.
• Snap traps utilize rapid leaf movements.
• Bladder traps suck in prey with a bladder that generates an
internal vacuum.
• Lobster pods, also known as eel traps, force prey to move towards a
digestive organ with inward-pointing hairs.

4. Pitfall traps
Characterized by an internal chamber, pitfall traps are thought to have
evolved independently at least six times. This particular adaptation is
found within the families Sarraceniaceae. (Darlingtonia, Heliamphora,
Sarracenia), Nepentheceae (Nepenthes), Cephalotaceae ( Cephalotus) ,
Within the family Bromeliaceae, pitcher morphology and carnivory
evolved two (Brocchinia and Catopsis).
• A passive trap, pitfall traps attract prey with nectar secreted by
the peristome and bright flower-like patterning within the pitcher.
The linings of most pitcher plants are covered in a loose coating
of waxy flakes which are slippery for insects, causing them to fall into
the pitcher. Once within pitcher structure, digestive enzymes break
down the prey into an absorbable form for the plant. Water can
become trapped within the pitcher, making a habitat for other flora
and fauna.

5. Heliamphora
The simplest pitcher plants are probably those of Heliamphora, the marsh
pitcherplant. In this genus, the traps are clearly derived from a simple rolled
leaf whose margins have sealed together. These plants live in the North West
South America (Tepuis) areas of high rainfall such. They consequently have a
problem ensuring their pitchers do not overflow. To counteract this
problem, a small gap in the zipped-up leaf margins allows excess water to
flow out of the pitcher.
Heliamphora is a member of the Sarraceniacea. Heliamphora is limited to
South America, but the family contains two other genera, Sarracenia and
Darlingtonia.
The genus Heliamphora contains 23 species

7. Sarracenia
In the genus Sarracenia, the problem of pitcher overflow is solved by
an operculum (lid) , which is essentially a flared leaflet that covers the
opening of the rolled-leaf tube and protects it from rain. Possibly
because of this improved waterproofing,Sarracenia species secrete
enzymes such as proteases and phosphatases into the digestive fluid at
the bottom of the pitcher. The enzymes digest the proteins in the prey,
which the plant absorbs.
Typically anywhere from 8 to 11 species of Sarracenia are generally
recognized

9. Darlingtonia
Darlingtonia californica the cobra plant has a particular operculum that
is balloon-like and almost seals the opening to the tube. This balloon-
like chamber is pitted with areole, chlorophyll-free patches through
which light can penetrate. Insects, mostly ants, enter the chamber via
the opening underneath the balloon. Once inside, they tire themselves
trying to escape from these false exits, until they eventually fall into the
tube. Prey access is increased by the "fish tails", outgrowths of the
operculum that give the plant its name.
Only one specie exists

11. Nepenthes
The second major group of pitcher plants are the tropical pitcher plants
of the genus Nepenthes. In the hundred or so species of this genus, the
pitcher is born at the end of a tendril, which grows as an extension to
the midrib of the leaf. Most species catch insects, although the larger
ones, such as Nepenthes rajah, also occasionally take small
mammals and reptiles. The prey is attract by the nectar outside if the
pitcher and at the These likely serve to lure insects into a precarious
position over the pitcher mouth, where they may lose their footing and
fall into the fluid within.
The genus comprises roughly 150 species, and numerous natural and
many cultivated hybrids

12. Fotoos nepentes christophe

13. Cephalotus
The Albany pitcher plant Cephalotus follicularis is a small pitcher plant
from Western Australia, with moccasin like pitchers. The rim of its
pitcher's opening (the peristome) is particularly pronounced (both
secrete nectar) and provides a thorny overhang to the opening,
preventing trapped insects from climbing out.
Only one specie occurs

15. Bromeliaceae
The final carnivores with a pitfall-like trap of the Bromeliaceae are
Brocchinia reducta, tatei and Catopsisn berteroniana. Like most
relatives of the Bromeliaceae, the tightly packed, waxy leaf bases of
this species form an urn. In most bromeliads, water collects readily in
this urn and may provide habitats for frogs, inscets and, more useful for
the plant, nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In Brocchinia, the urn is a specialised
insect trap, with a loose, waxy lining and a population of digestive
bacteria

17. Flypaper traps
The flypaper trap utilizes sticky mucilage, or glue. The leaf of flypaper
traps is studded with mucilage- secreting glands, which may be short
like those of the butterworts, or long and mobile like those of
many sundews. The prey is attract by the odour or vivid colours of the
plant leaves. Also the mucilage, what looks similar to droplets of water
attracts insects

18. Pinguicula
In the genus Pinguicula, the mucilage glands are quite short (sessile),
and, does not appear carnivorous. However, this belies the fact that the
leaf is an extremely effective trap of small flying insects and its surface
responds to prey by relatively rapid growth. This growth may involve
rolling of the leaf blade (to prevent rain from splashing the prey off the
leaf surface) or dishing of the surface under the prey to form a shallow
digestive pit.
Of the roughly 80 currently known species, 12 are native to Europe, 9
to Norh America, and some in northern Asia. The largest number of
species is in South and Central.

20. Drosera
The sundew genus (Drosera) consists of over 100 species of active
flypapers whose mucilage glands are borne at the end of
long tentacles, which frequently grow fast enough in response to prey
to aid the trapping process. The tentacles of D. burmanii can bend 180°
in a minute or so. Sundews are extremely cosmopolitan and are found
on all the continents except the Antarctic mainland. They are most
diverse in Australia, the home to the large subgroup of pygmy sundews
such as D. pygmaea and to a number of tuberous sundews such as D.
peltata, which form tubers during the dry summer months

22. Drosophyllum
Closely related to Drosera is the Portugese dewy pine, which differs
from the sundews in being passive. Its leaves are incapable of rapid
movement or growth. Drosophyllum is unusual in that it grows under
near-desert conditions; almost all other carnivores are
either bog plants or grow in moist tropical areas.
Only one specie occurs

24. Byblis
Byblis, sometimes termed the rainbow plants for the attractive appearance
of their mucilage covered leaves in bright sunshine. Native to
Western Australia, it is the only genus in the family Byblidaceae.
Byblis species look very similar to Drosera and Drosophyllum. The surface of
the leaves is densely studded with glandular hairs which secrete
a mucilagous substance from their tip. These serve to attract small insects,
which upon touching the sticky secretions are ensnared. Unless they are
strong enough to escape, the insect prey either die of exhaustion
or suffocation as the mucilage envelops. Unlike the sundews, Byblis can
move neither their tentacles nor the leaves themselves to aid trapping or
digestion. Also the trap system of Byblis is passif.
The 8 species only occurs in Australia

26. Snap traps
The only two active snap traps—the venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
and the waterweelplant ( Aldrovanda vesiculosa). Their trapping
mechanism has also been described as a "mouse trap", "bear trap"
based on their shape and rapid movement. However, the term snap
trap is preferred as other designations are misleading, particularly with
respect to the intended prey. Aldrovanda is aquatic and specialised in
catching small invertebrates; Dionaea is terrestrial and catches a variety
of arthropods, including spiders.

27. Dionaea
The Dionaea muscipula, is native to subtropical wetlands on the East
coast of the United States in North and South Carolina. It catches its
prey— Mainly insects and small gnats—with a trapping structure
formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves, which is
triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider
crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different
hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The
requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a
safeguard against wasting energy by trapping objects with no
nutritional value.

29. Aldrovanda
Aldrovanda vesiculosa, commonly known as the waterwheel plant, is
the sole species in the plant genus Aldrovanda of the
family Droseraceae. The plant captures small
aquatic invertebrates using traps similar to those of the Dionaea. The
traps are arranged in whorls around a central, free-floating stem, giving
rise to the common name. This is one of the few plant species capable
of rapid movement.

31. Bladder traps
Bladder traps are exclusive to the genus Utricularia, The bladder has a
small opening, sealed by a hinged door. In aquatic species, the door has
a pair of long trigger hairs. Aquatic invertebrates such as Daphnia touch
these hairs and deform the door by, releasing the vacuum. The
invertebrate is sucked into the bladder, where it is digested. Many
species of Utricularia are terrestrial, growing in waterlogged soil, and
their trapping mechanism is triggered in a slightly different manner.
Bladderworts lack roots, but terrestrial species have anchoring stems
that resemble roots. Temperate aquatic bladderworts are mostly free
floating and die back to a resting tutorion during the winter month.

33. Lobster-pot traps
A lobster-pot trap is a chamber that is easy to enter, and whose exit is
either difficult to find or obstructed by inward-pointing bristles. Lobster
pots are the trapping mechanism in Genlisea, the corkscrewlant plants.
These plants appear to specialise in aquatic protozoa . A Y-shaped
modified leaf allows prey to enter but not exit. Inward-pointing hairs
force the prey to move in a particular direction. Prey entering the spiral
entrance that coils around the upper two arms of the Y are forced to
move inexorably towards a stomach in the lower arm of the Y, where
they are digested. Prey movement is also thought to be encouraged by
water movement through the trap, produced in a similar way to the
vacuum in bladder traps, and probably evolutionarily related to it.

35. • In Colombia 28 sp Lentibulariaceae
• Pinguicula, Utricularia y Genlisea
• Utricularia 7 sp + Utricularia alpina
New for the department and since 1940 don’t colected in the country.
• Droseraceae 5 sp
• In Caquetá
• Pinguicula 2 sp
• Genlisea 3 sp
• Drosera 2 sp Caquetá
Carnivorous plants in Colombia