Carnivorous Plant Localities - A Waymarking.com Category

The purpose of these listings is to raise awareness of these specialized plants in order to help preserve them and their habitat.

A carnivorous plant (sometimes called an insectivorous plant) is a plant that derives some or most of its nutrients (but not energy) by trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, especially insects and other arthropods. To be a fully fledged carnivore, a plant must attract, kill, and digest prey; and it must benefit from absorbing the products of the digestion (mostly amino acids and ammonium ions). Carnivorous plants usually grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings.

There are five basic trapping mechanisms that have evolved in carnivorous plants. These are:

1. Pitfall traps (pitcher plants), which trap prey in a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes and/or bacteria;
2. Flypaper traps, which trap prey using a sticky mucilage;
3. Snap traps, which trap prey with rapid leaf movements;
4. Bladder traps, which suck in prey with a bladder that generates an internal vacuum;
5. Lobster-pot traps, which use inward pointing hairs to force prey to move towards a digestive organ.

• Aldrovanda
  The Waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda vesiculosa) is the sole species in the plant genus Aldrovanda. Commonly called the "waterwheel plant", this plant feeds on small aquatic invertebrates using traps very similar to those of the Venus Flytrap. The traps are arranged in whorls around a central, free-floating stem, hence the common name.
• Byblis
  Byblis is a small genus of carnivorous plants, sometimes termed the rainbow plants for the attractive appearance of their mucilage-covered leaves in bright sunshine. Native to western Australia, it is the only genus in the family Byblidaceae.



• Cephalotus
  Cephalotus is a monotypic genus of southwest Australian pitcher plants, containing a single carnivorous species Cephalotus follicularis, commonly called the Albany Pitcher Plant, the fly-catcher plant the mocassin plant, or the Western Australian Pitcher Plant.
• Darlingtonia
  Darlingtonia californica, also called the California Pitcher plant or Cobra Lily, is a carnivorous plant, the sole member of the genus Darlingtonia in the family Sarraceniaceae. It is native to Northern California and Oregon, growing in bogs and seeps with running water. This plant is designated as uncommon due to its rarity in the field.
• Dionaea
  Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey (mostly insects and arachnids). The trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves.
  
• Drosera
  The Sundews (Drosera) comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with over 170 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface.
  
• Drosophyllum
  Drosophyllum is a genus of carnivorous plants containing the single species Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Portuguese Sundew or Dewy pine). Drosophyllum lusitanicum is native to Portugal, Spain and Morocco, and is one of the few carnivorous plants to grow in dry, alkaline soil.
• Genlisea
  Genlisea (corkscrew plants)occure in tropical Africa, Madagascar and Brazil, Genlisea is unique in the plant kingdom for specializing in protozoa and for attracting its prey chemically. These plants are terrestrials or semi-aquatics. They consist of a single stem with small basal rosette of leaves, and a single flower, colored yellow or purple.
• Heliamphora
  The genus Heliamphora are pitcher plants native to South America. Species in the genus Heliamphora are carnivorous plants that consist of a modified leaf form that is fused into a tubular shape.
  
  
• Nepenthes
  The Nepenthes are popularly known as Tropical Pitcher Plants or Monkey Cups. They are found in the old world tropics, ranging from South China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines; westward to Madagascar and the Seychelles; southward to Australia and New Caledonia; and northward to India and Sri Lanka. The greatest diversity occurs on Borneo and Sumatra with many endemic species.
• Pinguicula
  The butterworts are a group of carnivorous plants comprising the genus Pinguicula. Members of this genus use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they obtain from the environments. This genus is found in Europe, North America, Asia, South and Central America and southern Mexico.
• Sarracenia
  Sarracenia is a genus comprising the eight (or arguably up to thirteen) species of North American pitcher plants. The plant's leaves form tall lidded pitchers, which have evolved to trap insects, and which produce enzymes to digest their prey.
  
  
• Triphyophyllum
  Triphyophyllum is a monotypic plant genus, containing the single species Triphyophyllum peltatum. It is native to tropical western Africa, in Sierra Leone and Liberia, growing in tropical rainforests. It is currently in cultivation in only three botanical gardens, Abidjan, Bonn and Würzburg.
• Utricularia
  Bladderwort is the common name given to the plants of the genus Utricularia, the largest genus of carnivorous plants. There are over two hundred species found in fresh water and wet soil across every continent other than Antarctica. Bladderworts are cultivated for their flowers which are often compared with snapdragons and orchids. All bladderworts are carnivorous, and capture small animals by means of bladder-like traps.

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