FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I noticed something this morning on my P. emarginata x juamavensis flower stalk. It caught a gnat and, when I took a pic, it appears to be greasy like the leaves. Whether or not it actually has the ability to excrete the enzymes for digestion, I don't know. But it has another avenue to capture them at least.

I suppose you could always take a sample of the grease and see if it breaks down bloodworms. That should at least show if it's worth investigating.

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The grease is just the glue that traps the bug. The plant only secretes the enzymes after the bug is caught.
I suppose if I had the equipment to assay for the enzymes I could find out, but, alas, I don't.

You do have to wonder why the plant would have evolved (or retained) gooey flower stalks if it wasn't expecting to release the requisite enzymes that make it worthwhile.

I would wonder that, but there are also carnivorous tomatoes and potatoes. Passive, yes, they only trap the bug and it expires from exposure and is then washed off to decompose and enrich the soil. However, I would think that the plant would go the route of a non-sticky stalk to not accidentally trap a pollinator.

I dunno, I can't see both passive and active carnivory evolving on the same plant. Certainly possible, I suppose.

I think the sticky flower stalks are like that to prevent aphids from feeding on them. My sundews with smooth stalks have this problem; the ones with sticky stalks don't.

evenwind wrote:I dunno, I can't see both passive and active carnivory evolving on the same plant. Certainly possible, I suppose.

I believe that such a plant is mentioned in the savage garden

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We have now advanced to carnivorous flowers. I've watched this guy for two days as he struggled to escape being stuck to the flower petal. Sweet!

I think mucilage on the flower stalk is actually the older trait. It exists outside of carnivorous plants and is at least partly believed to limit pollinating insects by preventing non flying insects from getting to the flowers, or something like that. You can see it in some drosera and not in others but it actually took me a couple years growing them to realize that burmannii flowers are covered in dew, not fuzzy.
the sepals of D. burmannii flower have these weird shaped glands