Plants your kids can get excited about

CARNIVOROUS PLANTS A SOURCE OF FASCINATION

- DIARMUID GAVIN

CARNIVOROUS plants exert a fascination, particularly to children.

The idea that a plant can gobble up an insect is gruesome and intriguing, and the best known of these is the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula).

If an insect or spider is detected, it opens its serrated jaws, (well, leaves really), and traps the prey inside. The method of digestion is also quite gory - it's a slow death for the victim who is slowly broken down by degradative enzymes over a period of a week or so. Once fully digested, the leaves open and the husk of the insect is ejected.

The reason carnivorous plants eat insects is due to lack of nutrients available in their environment. Many originate from poor boggy soil and wet savannahs with little in the way of nitrogen and other minerals available, so they turn to small creepy-crawlies for sustenance.