Rather than drawing nutrients from the soil, these plants eat bugs or other small creatures to live.
The result of these adaptations can be a plant that is, by conventional standards, rather weird-looking.
The pitchers, which are modified leaves, attract and trap insects.
The Spruce / Autumn Wood
The pitchers either fill with water and drown the trapped insects or produce a chemical that kills them.
These plants are not well-suited for gardeners who like easy-care plants.
Its flower resembles the head of a cobra snake prepared to strike.
SoopySue / Getty Images
The pitchers have stunning, dark veins in a pattern that stands out nicely against the pure white background.
The plant blooms in April and May.
This particular pitcher plant is fairly easy to grow in a small water garden.
mountainberryphoto / Getty Images
Tropical Pitcher Plant
Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthesspp.)
arewoodyvinesthat may be the weirdest looking of all the carnivorous plants.
The pitchers in these cases hang down, making them an ideal choice for hanging baskets.
AlessandroZocc / Getty Images
TheNepenthesgenus contains more than 150 species, some with pitchers so large (for example,N.
rafflesiana)thatsmall mammals, lizards, and birds have been trapped in them.
These plants have evolved modified pitcher-shaped leaf structures that hold water to drown insects.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
The ‘Eden Black’ cultivar is dark enough to qualify as that rarest of the rarea black plant.
Sundew
Sundews(Droseraspp.)
In some species, the leaves curl up to engulf the insect.
Noppamon / Getty Images
There are sundews of various kinds across continents.
They are commonly sold as houseplants and have appeared (in exaggerated forms) in science fiction movies.
TheVenus flytrap mechanismactively moves as its “jaws” clamp down in a flash and trap the insect.
TomekD76 / Getty Images
Bladderworts
Bladderwort plants (Utriculariaspp.
The plant then slowly squeezes the water back out through filtering membranes but the tiny creature is trapped inside.
Although it does flower, it is grown for its colorful pitchers, which are bright orange.
Manassiri / Getty Images
It is a hybrid betweenN.
villosa,resulting in large pitchers.
The plant is grown for its vibrant red pitchers more so than for its aesthetically insignificant blooms.
jonathanfilskov-photography / Getty Images
But it’s the outside that is the most eye-catching.
They grow best outdoors in regions with mild winters and indoors as houseplants or in terrariums.
The Venus flytrap is your best bet if you are looking for a plant that eats flies.
marcouliana / Getty Images
Sundews and various pitcher plants may also eat some types of flies.
Bladderwort.Missouri Department of Conservation.
Pinguicula, the Butterworts.Botanical Society of America.
shihina / Getty Images
Plants vs. mosquitos.Florida Department of Health.
Carnivorous Plants: The Meat-Eaters of the Plant World.The Natural History Museum (London).
photograph by dorisj/Getty Images
Jordan Lye/Getty Images
Beachmite Photography/Getty Images
John Swithinbank / Getty Images
