Double, double root and trouble: the witchy ways of carnivorous plants
Bladderworts, butterworts, sundews and sticky asphodels. This may sound like the forgotten line of the Witches' Chant, but it’s actually a list of Alaska’s carnivorous plants and the topic of a spooky science webinar on Oct. 2.
To celebrate the spooky season, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is hosting weekly webinars on the weird, the creepy and the extraordinary. To kick it off, they invited Bob Armstrong to talk about insect-eating plants. Bob Armstrong is a naturalist with a deep interest in entomology, an associate professor of fisheries and ornithology for the University of Alaska and the author of various books on Alaska’s natural history. Despite loving the prey of these plants, he agreed to share his knowledge about these fascinating carnivores.
Bladderworts are aquatic plants that float near the water’s surface with no roots but a network of spindly leaves that are covered with bladders — the catching and digesting appendage of the bladderwort. To catch prey, glands in the bladder pump out water, creating a vacuum inside. When tiny organisms approach, they unknowingly act in their own demise. Touching sensitive hairs near the opening of the bladder triggers the opening of a trap door which suck the prey into the bladder. Inside, digestive juices start breaking down the meal. A ghastly way to go.
Butterworts and sundews use sticky leaves to trap insects and may have been the inspiration for flypaper. Butterworts have shimmery leaves that “feel like greasy butter,” Armstrong says, and they attract prey by producing goo that smells like nectar. Sundews have beautiful red and green leaves with tiny tentacle-like tendrils with sticky dew on the ends. When an insect lands on the leaves, the tentacles are triggered and slowly fold over the prey, maximizing contact and minimizing escape options. The leaves of both plants secrete digestive enzymes that break down the prey's soft tissue. How viciously viscous.
Armstrong's favorite carnivorous plant is the sticky asphodel. Its stem is covered with sticky hairs, which trap and digest the insectile meals. Armstrong seems to like these plants because they benefit moth caterpillars, which can climb the sticky stems without getting stuck and use the seed pods for pupating.
Carnivorous plants tend to live in nutrient-poor environments like black spruce forests or peat bogs. They can’t get the nutrients they need from the soil. Instead, they get what they need, including nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, from their prey.
There’s much to appreciate about these extraordinary organisms, but one thing we can all admire in these plants is their hunger for mosquitoes. The bladderwort will suck in mosquito larvae as it comes to the pond's surface for air, while all the others will catch and digest the adults. Even Macbeth’s witches might hail the mighty mosquito eater.
To celebrate the spooky season, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is hosting weekly webinars on the weird, the creepy and the extraordinary. To kick it off, they invited Bob Armstrong to talk about insect-eating plants. Bob Armstrong is a naturalist with a deep interest in entomology, an associate professor of fisheries and ornithology for the University of Alaska and the author of various books on Alaska’s natural history. Despite loving the prey of these plants, he agreed to share his knowledge about these fascinating carnivores.
Bladderworts are aquatic plants that float near the water’s surface with no roots but a network of spindly leaves that are covered with bladders — the catching and digesting appendage of the bladderwort. To catch prey, glands in the bladder pump out water, creating a vacuum inside. When tiny organisms approach, they unknowingly act in their own demise. Touching sensitive hairs near the opening of the bladder triggers the opening of a trap door which suck the prey into the bladder. Inside, digestive juices start breaking down the meal. A ghastly way to go.
Butterworts and sundews use sticky leaves to trap insects and may have been the inspiration for flypaper. Butterworts have shimmery leaves that “feel like greasy butter,” Armstrong says, and they attract prey by producing goo that smells like nectar. Sundews have beautiful red and green leaves with tiny tentacle-like tendrils with sticky dew on the ends. When an insect lands on the leaves, the tentacles are triggered and slowly fold over the prey, maximizing contact and minimizing escape options. The leaves of both plants secrete digestive enzymes that break down the prey's soft tissue. How viciously viscous.
Armstrong's favorite carnivorous plant is the sticky asphodel. Its stem is covered with sticky hairs, which trap and digest the insectile meals. Armstrong seems to like these plants because they benefit moth caterpillars, which can climb the sticky stems without getting stuck and use the seed pods for pupating.
Carnivorous plants tend to live in nutrient-poor environments like black spruce forests or peat bogs. They can’t get the nutrients they need from the soil. Instead, they get what they need, including nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, from their prey.
There’s much to appreciate about these extraordinary organisms, but one thing we can all admire in these plants is their hunger for mosquitoes. The bladderwort will suck in mosquito larvae as it comes to the pond's surface for air, while all the others will catch and digest the adults. Even Macbeth’s witches might hail the mighty mosquito eater.
Dead mosquitoes and other bugs stuck to the leaves
of a common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris).
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