A few weeks ago, I received a pot with several cute, bright green carnivorous plants. I was too embarrassed to ask again what they were, so a quick Google images search (“carnivorous plant with sticky leaves”) later, I became the proud mom of 5 little butterwort plants.
[Butterwort (Pinguicula) plants produce a sticky, sweet substance on their leaves that attracts and traps prey. Similar to how a Venus fly trap consumes food, the butterwort plant releases digestive enzymes that dissolve its victim right there, on the leaf! The plant consumes the nutrients once they have broken down into small enough pieces. (source)]
Their care has been a fun guessing game in my dry, bright apartment window, but so far they have survived!
The other day I came home and my friend/neighbor came over to borrow the printer. 0.2 seconds before she opened the door I was looking at my cute plants and saw that one of the little butterworts caught its first fruit fly! I was so proud of him, and my friend thought I was losing it when she walked in and saw me frantically taking photos of a gnat on a plant for my blog. Before she made it to the printer I gave her a 60-second lecture on the mechanisms behind the plants’ digestion, since she (and recently, I) had never seen carnivorous plants besides Venus fly traps and pitcher plants before.
These guys are so neat and helpful. I can’t wait to get more carnivorous plants to raise!
-Amy
Plant Sense 