Other Definitions
carnivorous plant (dict)
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Carnivorous PlantA carnivorous plant is a plant that derives some or most of its nutrients (but not energy) by trapping and consuming animals, especially insects. Carnivorous plants usually grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Types of carnivorous plants: - Bladder and corkscrew traps
Charles Darwin wrote the first well-known treatise on carnivorous plants in 1875. Basic care and feeding Although different species of carnivorous plants have very different requirements in terms of sunlight, humidity, soil moisture etc., there are commonalities: - All carnivorous plants require purified water that has been distilled or filtered by reverse osmosis. Common tap or drinking water contains minerals and salts that will quickly build up and kill the plant. This is because carnivorous plants evolved in a nutrient-poor environment and are consequently very hypotonic; water of a higher tonicity will dessicate them.
- Outdoor carnivorous plants generally catch more than enough insects to keep themselves properly fed. Insects may be fed to the plants by hand to supplement their diet. Carnivorous plants are generally unable to digest non-insect food; bits of hamburger, for example, will simply rot (two reported exceptions are tiny amounts of boiled egg and chocolate). A carnivorous plant that catches no insects at all will not die, but its growth will be impaired.
- Ironically, carnivorous plants are themselves susceptible to infestation by parasites such as aphids or mealybugs. Although small infestations can be removed by hand, larger infestations necessitate use of an insecticide. Because carnivorous plants are particularly vulnerable to toxic impurities, insecticides must be selected and applied carefully. Isopropyl alcohol is effective as a topical insecticide. Diazinon is an excellent systemic insecticide that is easily tolerated by most carnivorous plants. Malathion and Acephate (Orthene) have also been reported as tolerable by carnivorous plants.
Carnivorous plants in fiction - A fanciful carnivorous plant with an insatiable appetite was the central theme of the comedic play, Little Shop of Horrors, made from a more serious 1960s movie of the same name.
- The triffids presented in John Wyndham's book The Day of the Triffids are plants which can uproot themselves, move, and can kill with a poisonous, whip-like tail. The book leaves open the question of whether the triffids are intelligent.
- The film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a campy movie about tomatoes that for some reason eat people. It is an intentional spoof on 50s monster movies.
- A large floral plant consumed a young woman in Madagascar in 1878, as witnessed by Dr Carl Liche, or so he reported in the September 26 1920 issue of The American Weekly. The woman was supposed to have been a member of the Mkodos, a little known but cruel tribe. The woman was pictured in an accompanying artwork. In 1925 the same paper offered another carnivorous plant story, of a tree species on Mindanao, in the Philippines.
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