9/15/2015 Top 10 Fascinating Carnivorous Plants Listverse http://listverse.com/2011/06/09/top10fascinatingcarnivorousplants/ 1/19 NEXT PREVIOUS CHRISTINE VREY JUNE 9, 2011 Out of all the strange plants in the world, who would have thought that you even get flesh eating plants? Well, maybe not so much “flesh” eating, as insect eating, but carnivorous none the less. All carnivorous plants can be found in areas where the soil has very little nutrients. These fascinating plants are categorized as carnivorous as they trap insects and arthropods, produce digestive juices, dissolve the prey and derive some, or most, of their nutrients from this process. The first book on these plants was written by Charles Darwin, in 1875, “Insectivorous Plants”. After further discoveries and research, it is believed that these carnivorous properties evolved on six separate occasions, from five different orders of flowering plants. These are now presented in over 630 different species of flowering plant. There are five basic trapping mechanisms found in all these plants: Pitfall traps, Fly Paper traps, Snap traps, Bladder traps and Lobster pot traps. I would like to show you a couple of plants, using each mechanism, so that you can also see the differences between different genera. 10 Sarracenia OUR WORLD Top 10 Fascinating Carnivorous Plants
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9/15/2015 Top 10 Fascinating Carnivorous Plants Listverse
Raflesia Arnoldi was in my prevous list " Top ten Carrion plants" as it is not acarnivorous plant, but a carrion plant... Meaning it smells like rotten flesh toattract insects to help pollinate it... It does not however "eat" insects for nutrition.:)
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John Juster • 11 days ago> Christine Vrey
Do you know of the Daucus Carota? A fairly common flower in northamerica. Myself in Montreal, I walk my dog along the shores of the stlawrence river and find these big white flowers open up around June andJuly. By the end of August, most of them close up again WITH BUGS INTHEM!!! Yeah! I absolutely saw (and took photos of) bugs, mostly normalhousehold flies, inside the flower. Some had many bugs in them, darkbodies shown through the white pedals covering.
I couldn't believe it. Not sure if they are eaten, or that these flies chose tonest there, but looking online everywhere shows no mention of thisphenomenon. Any idea? Thank you!
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Ariza Putri • 3 years ago
i think Rafflesia Arnoldii is the most fascinating carnivorous plant to me. it is the biggestflower on the earth.
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Tinshreya • 2 years ago> Ariza Putri
Rafflesia Arnoldii is not a carnivourous plant. Check your facts! 2
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Qwerty123 • 2 years ago> Tinshreya
Actually, Rafflesia Arnoldii is carnivorous check your sources before youwrite something.
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Qwerty123 • 2 years ago> Qwerty123
I meant Rafflesia Arnoldii is a carnivorous plant.
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Treelore • 7 months ago> Qwerty123
Rafflesia arnoldii is a parasitic carrion plant it isn't carnivorous asit does not digest animals or insects and instead takes itsnutrients from surrounding host plants.
Wow! Who knew that plants could be so viscious and coniving! Actually... It's kindaAWESOME!
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Christine Vrey • 4 years ago
To those that liked the list I am glad that I could provide a interisting read for the day,and thank you for the nice comments =) I am completely facinated by our natural world,but I dont think my facination is shared by all the readers of listverse.So for those that did not like my list, suck it and write your own list! =P I did take note ofthe increasing amount of plant list, so I will write about something else for a while... =(
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Mon • 4 years ago
When you write the scientific name, the second word should not start with a capitalletter.
PS. A rat eating pitcher plant was was discovered here in nthe philipppines about 5years ago.
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C • 4 years ago
I don't care what the others say, I think today's list was great. Informative andinteresting. No, I'm not a botanist, but I do appreciate science and I think the list writerdid a great job with her selection and explaination.
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b.o.b • 8 months ago
hiwhats up
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b.o.b • 8 months ago
;jhkdb;kbsd;ubasdcuiba;kbjakejbcbae 1
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the Illuminati • 8 months ago> b.o.b
I disagree. In fact, I think dkal;kdflksjadlkflkas;kdljf. That's just my personalopinion, but I've been studying the concept in depth for months.
I noticed some of the plants are name nepenthe. There's an old poem (by Poe, perhaps)in which the writer wants nepenthe as he's in great pain and wants to forget. And thenepenthe plants do create a narcotic. Could this be the nepenthe the writer wasdesiring? I had always assumed that nepenthe simply meant relief or forgetfulness, but anarcotic makes more sense. Does anyone know anything about this?
I think this article could use a little "punchingup." Does anybody have any references toscifi or horror movies? Which of these inspired Audrey? ("FEED ME!") And I think I'veseen that one plant (much bigger) in Mothra where the scientists are on Mothra's Island.
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Carmen • 4 years ago> YouRang?
It was Poe's The Raven, "Quaff, oh Quaff (which means drink) this kindnepenthe and forget this lost Lenore" so yes I've always taken it to mean anarcotic.
On a somewhat related note here's a link to a very spooky tale that did therounds a few years back and connects to #1 on this list. Follow it through to theend, (meaning click the links in the story, it all comes together, sort of) it's quiteentertaining.
http://www.dionaeahouse.com/ 1
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Carmen • 4 years ago> Carmen
I forgot, don't click the update link in the first page, you'll just getconfused, just go to next and come back to the update later.
fendabenda • 4 years ago
I used to own a Cobra Lilly (although I didn't know what it was exactly, someone gave itto me as a gift) and a Venus flytrap. The Cobra Lilly had a really strong smell... notunpleasant as such, but kind of sickly sweet. As for the Venus flytrap: once it closes its"trap", it cannot reopen it. This means that if there's no prey inside the trap when itcloses, the "trap" (lobe) part of the plant withers and dies and falls off. My ex killed myVenus flytrap by teasing it to close all its traps (she thought it looked funny when it
Venus flytrap by teasing it to close all its traps (she thought it looked funny when itclosed them) without any nutrition inside of them.
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Magnumto • 4 years ago
Excellent list, I loved it! Although grammer wasn't as strong as it could have been, it wasvery well written for the layman, very understandable, I thought. One thing I missed,though, was the geographic distribution of the Aldrovanda vesiculosa plant; whereshould I be on the lookout for these guys? Thanks for a really great list, Ms. Vrey!
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Magnumto • 4 years ago> Magnumto
*grammar", dang it! 1
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James Williams Parke • 4 years ago
I use to be a great fan of List verseIts been a while (Like a month maybe) sinceListVerse uploaded an interesting Top 10 List.
Top 10 worst ListVerse's Top 10sFascinating carnivorous plantsPeaceful menWasted OscarsRock Bands that Succumbed to Disco Fever!?!?!?!William Castle Film GimmicksAmazing Carrion PlantsPeople's Lives in Famous Photograph10 More Great British ComedyShameful Moments in Catholic HistoryMisused English Words
I remember the cool Top 10s of mystery,sex,or modern topics that made me love thiswebsite.
You should definitely check your staff and consider hire more creative personal.
Perhaps...maybe is just a strategy to buy instead the ListVerse's book. 1
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copperdragon • 4 years ago> James Williams Parke
There is no "creative staff". the lists are submitted by patrons and readers oflistverse.
If you would like more interesting lists, you are welcome to write them and submitthem.
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Emma • 4 years ago
I loved this list!! As a plant molecular biologist, it's nice to see plants represented!! Plus, I
I loved this list!! As a plant molecular biologist, it's nice to see plants represented!! Plus, Iwrote my undergraduate thesis on venus flytraps, so I was particularly excited to seethem at #1.
But...no triggerplants?!? (Stylidium)
Also, to anyone who has ever owned a VFT and been disappointed, the VFT will onlyneed to eat about 23 insects/month to get enough carbon to exist, and overstimulationof the trap mechanism can result in energy deficiencies for the plant. This can meanpossible early death...
Most people who raise VFTs keep them in conditions of carbon and nutrient richness, sothey don't really need to "eat" anything.
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Christine Vrey • 4 years ago> Emma
Just read up about Stylidium... It was very interisting!! I didnt come across itwhen I was researching for the list so thank you for that! And thank you for likingthe list =)
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GEORGE COOPER • 4 years ago> Emma
Emma'I would like you to give me a reference in the form of books about plants.
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Lifeschool • 4 years ago
Fascinating list and excellent pictures too! I thought this was very well written full offacts but not too dry or academic, and I like the way the author almost guides the readerfrom the intro on down. Not much about the smell of these plants perhaps they don'tsmell as bad as the stink plants we say the other week? Amazing to imagine thesundews reaching a metre in size that's some plant! Some of these just look likeorginary 'butterwouldn'tmelt' flora, so I was interested to find out how they do it. Thewaterwheel plant takes the prize for the most alienlooking assassin, and the poor oldvenus flytrap with it's many snapping stomachs is a sure winner.
I had a venus flytrap once but it died because it didn't catch any of the huge flies buzzingaround here in the summer. I had to manually feed it dead flies I found in the window, andI guess it did like those so much. Besides, it was so fun traggering the traps I guess halfof the closed traps were empty because of me!
Top notch job Christine, reminded me of the Little Shop Of Horrors: "Feed Me! Feed MeNOW!"