Venus' fly trap captures an ant/Environmental Media Corporation
In the musical comedy (and movie) The Little Shop of Horrors, a poor young man, Seymour Krelborn, slaves away for his employer in a florist shop in a seedy part of town. Seymour is in love with the lovely shop assistant, Audrey, however she is in love with the dentist, Orin Scrivello. One day, after a strange eclipse of the sun, Seymour buys an unusual plant he calls Audrey 2. The plant’s favorite food is human blood. “Feed me, Seymour,” Audrey 2 cries.
Although the musical is a staple of high school theatrical productions, there are no plants (to our knowledge) that feed on humans or prefer the taste of human blood. However there are plants that feed on insects and sometimes other small animals, and some of them occur in North Carolina and the B.W. Wells Savannah.
Pitcher plants in the Savannah/Niche
Plants that use animals as part of their diet are called insectivorous (they eat insects) and sometimes carnivorous (they eat animals). There are generally two groups of insectivorous plants: those with active and passive traps. Active insectivorous plants have parts that actually move to trap insects. They include bladderworts that occur in wet ditches, ponds and lakes, and Venus' fly traps that occur only in a small band of land in the eastern Carolinas (It is only found naturally in a 75-100 mile radius from Wilmington, NC), and someday they may be found at the B. W. Wells Savannah. Passive insectivorous plants include pitcher plants and sundews that also occur in the B.W. Wells Savannah. Animals are lured to passive traps and either fall into them, or become stuck in their sticky hairs.
Pitcher plants in the Savannah/Niche
Once you have seen a Venus' fly trap you will understand why scientists from Charles Darwin to Dr. Wells have found them so wonderful. Tiny hair triggers on the leaf of the plant detect the movement of a potential victim and the plant snaps shut around it. Watch fly traps capturing an ant and an unsuspecting lady bug.
Pitcher plants attract insects that lose their footing, fall into their “pitcher” and cannot escape.
Sundews have sweet nectar from glands on the upper leaf surface that attracts insects that become immobilized in the in their sticky secretions.
