Cool article on Carnivorous Plant Evolution
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:28 pm
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... arnivores/
I find this really cool:
I find this really cool:
Carnivorous plants occur across the flowering-plant family tree. The Australian pitcher plant (Cephalotus follicularis)—native to a sliver of coastline in Southwest Australia—is closer kin to the starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) than to other species of pitcher plants found in the Americas and southeast Asia. This suggests that carnivory has evolved repeatedly in plants, probably to cope with the nutrient-scarce soils in which they grow, Albert says. “What they’re trying to do is capture nitrogen and phosphorus from their prey.”