By: Derek Gerry
What's exciting about botany? It's just the study of plants, dull things that just sit there, right? While most plants are fairly sedate things, there are a few freaks of the botany world. These plants move on their own. Some of them even eat meat.
- The Pitcher Plant: Most plants get their energy from photosynthesis, but some actually digest living creatures for nutrients. One of the most widespread carniverous plants is the Pitcher Plant. Pitcher plants have a special leaf that forms into a large basin that resembles a vase. This basin fills with water. Insects enter the basin hoping to find nectar. Once they're inside, they can't get out because the sides of the basin are covered in slippery wax. The plant releases digestive enzymes and absorbs nutrients from the insect. One species, the Rajah Pitcher found in India, has been known to eat mice.
- Venus Flytrap: Like the Pitcher Plant, the Venus Flytrap is a carnivore. These plants can be found in swampy areas in the central United States. Because there is little nitrogen in the soil, Venus flytraps need to eat insects to survive. The flytrap has several pairs of leaves tipped with hairlike points. If an insect walks onto these leaves, they snap shut in less than a second, creating a prison for the insect while the plant slowly digests it. Science still isn't sure how the Venus Flytrap snaps shut so quickly without any muscles, but we do know that the leaves can only close about seven times before they die.
- The Sensitive Plant: Found in Central and South America, the Sensitive Plant literally recoils from human contact. If you touch the leaf of a Sensitive Plant, it will curl up and wilt, only to open up again once the danger has passed. These plants don't have any muscles, so they accomplish their feat by draining water from the cells of a leaf that's disturbed. Without water, the cells lose their internal pressure and the leaf wilts. After a while, the plant allows water back into the cells and the plant straightens out again. The taxonomical name for the Sensitive Plant is Mimosa pudica, "pudica" being a Latin term for "shy."
- Impatiens: You'll find Impatiens plants at any garden center and around most homes, but did you know about this plant's explosive tendencies? Impatiens is also known as the Touch-Me-Not, because mature seed pods will literally explode in your hand, sending seeds flying in all directions. A few plants have evolved a technique known as explosive dehiscence to spread their seeds without relying on animals, insects or the wind. Other plants with explosive tendencies are the Squirting Cucumber, which fires a stream of sap filled with seeds, and the Sandbox Tree, which can fire its seed pods the length of a football field.
