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Meet some meat-eating plants
Fill in the blanks with the following words:
bug, carnivorous, digestive, drown
Plants look harmless. But did you know some plants love to eat meat?
There are more than 625 species of _______________ plants in the world today.
These plants eat meat because they live in places where the soil isn't very good. Eating meat gives them important nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
Meat-eating plants don't have teeth. Instead, they trap their prey and cover them with a _______________ juice that dissolves them.
The Venus Flytrap lives in the swamps of North and South Carolina in the United States. This small plant eats small insects. It has two leaves lined with hairs. When an insect touches the hairs, the leaves snap shut, trapping the _______________ inside.
The Raffles Pitcher Plant lives in the jungles of Borneo. It grows special leaves that look like a big cup. The cup is filled with sweet digestive juice. The plant uses this to trap, _______________ and dissolve mice, lizards and even rats.
Pitcher plants
Find words that mean the following:
jugs, given a  humorous name, liquid, fall to pieces (crumble)
Pitcher plants grow tube-like leaves that look like cups. Because of this, these plants are nicknamed 'monkey cups'. But scientists call these leaf cups 'pitchers'.
Pitcher plants grow all over southeast Asia. Some species grow in the highlands where it is cool. Others prefer warmer lowlands.
Pitchers can be big or small. They can be green, purple, red, yellow or cream. They can be spotted or striped.
Pitcher plants can look different from each other, but they all work the same way.
The pitchers are filled with a sweet digestive juice. When insects climb into the pitcher for a drink, they discover the sides are  really slippery.
The insects slip into the bottom of the pitcher and drown. Their bodies decompose and are absorbed by the plant.
Creepy, isn't it?
Carnivorous plants that work with animals
Choose the correct alternative:
The cobra lily has a curved/carved green stem that looks like a snake's body, and a long red leaf that looks like a tongue.
This American pitcher plant lives in swamps. Unlike other carnivorous plants, it doesn't make its own digestive juice. Instead, it pumps/lumps up fresh water through its root to fill up its pitcher. When the pitcher is full, little slime mites jump in and live inside it.
When insects fall inside the cobra lily, the slime mites attack it. They eat some and the plant eats the rest/nest. The plant also eats the mites' faeces.
When the cobra lily dies off in the cold winter, the mites stay inside the pitcher. When a new pitcher grows in the spring, the slime mites stand on the end/edge and wait for it to open. When it does, the mites slide down and wait for lunch to arrive!
Bladderworts
Bladderworts suck in their prey  like a vacuum cleaner sucks up dust.
Bladderworts grow special leaves that look like sacks. Each sack has a trapdoor surrounded by hairs. When an insect touches these hairs, the trapdoor opens, the insect  is sucked in and the lid snaps shut.
Bladderworts need a lot of water. Some species live in wet soil. These are usually very small. They hunt microscopic prey like protozoa.
But bladderworts that live in rivers are bigger. They hunt water fleas and mosquito larvae. Really big ones can eat young tadpoles.
The easiest bladderwort to find is the common bladderwort. It grows in rivers and ditches all over Asia and Europe. It has long, light green stems, lots of leaves that look like hairs and little round bladders.
True or false?
1 Bladderworts eat mice and rats.
2 Bladderworts only live in deserts.
3 Common bladderwort lives in rivers and ditches.
now do this
Answer the following questions. To test your memory, try answering without referring to the text. If you can't remember the details, read the piece again.
1 There are ... carnivorous plant species.
a. about 6 million
b. about 6,000
c. about 600
2 A Venus flytrap ...
a. sucks in prey like a vacuum cleaner
b. has  sticky leaves
c. has leaves that snap shut
3 A common bladderwort ...
a. sucks in prey like a vacuum cleaner
b. has  sticky leaves
c. has leaves that snap shut
4 Crescent-leaved sundews grow in ...
a. mountains
b. marshes
c. oceans
5 Carnivorous plants first appeared ...
a. 200 million years ago
b. 50 million years ago
c. nobody knows for sure
6 Common swamp pitcher-plants ...
a. are protected
b. are really common
c. are extinct
Where to see carnivorous plants
Hong Kong has carnivorous plants growing in the wild.
Crescent-leaved sundews grow in marshes and forests.
Sundews make a sweet juice that attracts insects. But when insects come for a drink, they discover that the juice is also very sticky. No matter how much they struggle, the insects can't get out of the sundew's glue trap.
This plant is endangered, but if you look hard, you should be able to find some. But don't touch it!
Another local plant is the common swamp pitcher-plant. It also grows in forests and marshes. You can recognise it by its long, green pitchers filled with juice.
If the pitchers are open, check for drowned insects. But remember, this plant is protected, so don't touch it.
You can also see carnivorous plants from around the world by visiting the Zoological and Botanical Gardens.
fab fact!
The next time you rent a DVD, check out Little Shop of Horrors that stars a monster meat-eating plant. If you prefer to read, ask your librarian for Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Triffids don't
just eat meat, they can run!
compare!
There are about 350,000 species of plants living today. About 660
of these are carnivorous.
fab fact!
Because carnivorous plants have no bones, there are very few fossils around. Nobody is really sure when the first meat-eating plants appeared on Earth.
Answers
Meat-eating plants: carnivorous, digestive, bug, drown
Pitcher plants: pitchers, nicknamed, juice, decompose
Carnivorous plants: curved, pumps, rest, edge
Bladderworts: 1. false, 2. false, 3. true
Quiz:1. c; 2. c; 3. a; 4. b; 5. c; 6. a



Plants that eat meat