Carnivorous plants flip the rules of the food chain by pin down dirt ball and small animals to draw out worthful food that the works ca n’t absorb from the dirt . Not only does this extraterrestrial being - look flora look unknown and alien in one ’s home , but the flora can help capture gnats , fly front , and other hemipteron encroacher .
You ’ve probably take care a Venus flytrap or maybe even purchase one from a display at Trader Joe ’s or Walmart as a wonder . Although the Venus flytrap is the plant most hoi polloi think of when they take heed “ carnivorous , ” there are also legion species of ewer flora , sundews , and bladderwort that eat up meat . As the carnivorous plant Audrey II says inThe Little Shop of Horrors , “ Feed me , Seymour ! ”
Many carnivorous plants thrive in specific conditions , such as high humidity and a peat soil mixture . If you are uncoerced to create a suitable environs , any of the survey carnivorous plants could avail rid your house of small bugs .
Venus flytrap
Venus flytrapshave modified , jaw - looking leaves lined with trigger hair that snap close on flies and other small insects that wander across their surface . The alien - looking plants are endemic to the wetlands of North and South Carolina .
Although threatened in the state of nature , Venus flytraps are the most popular carnivorous works to keep as a houseplant . Do not feed them ground beef or other people food , which will harm the plants , but it ’s okay to hand - fee them a dead tent-fly that you just swatted off the windowpane .
Even though it ’s more difficult to see the Venus flytrap encased in a dome terrarium or credit card thermionic tube with air holes , the plants do best when kept in a humid environs .
Trumpet Pitcher
plant of the genusSarraceniaare unremarkably get laid as trumpet pitchers or American ewer plant life . These plants get their name from long pitchers that farm nectar near the top rim . When insects estate on them and endeavor to get more of the good stuff , they fall into the smooth - sided pitcherful and are ineffectual to fly out . The nutrients from the trapped insects are then absorbed by the pitcher plants .
Trumpet pitchers grow best in a potted mixture of one part peat and one part perlite . They require a lower limit of four hours a day of direct sunshine , so they boom on sunny patios and in greenhouses .
Tropical Pitcher Plants
plant of the genusNepenthes , also have a go at it as tropical pitcher plant , are native to Southeast Asia . Unlike American twirler plants , tropic ewer plants have distinctive - looking leaves that can develop a long tendril at their tip that make grow into a hurler . When insect descend at heart , digestive enzymes at the bottom of the ewer engross the bugs ’ nutrients .
At house , tropical pitcher plants produce best in arena with a lot of bright sunlight and comparatively humid conditions . If your home is a relatively bug - free zone , kudos ! Your tropical mound flora will still appreciate a frozen cricket as a treat from meter to time .
Sundew
There are at least 194 species in the genusDrosera , commonly known as daily dew . These plants — bump on every continent except Antarctica — have stalked mucilaginous gland that produce sticky cliff on their leaves . When an dirt ball gets trapped in the gooey tidy sum , the folio will fold around the microbe and digest it .
Besides a soil mixture of half peat moss and half perlite , the most important affair to remember about keeping a sundew happy is hydration . Only use distilled water or rainwater for these carnivorous cuties — tap water will obliterate them almost forthwith .
Butterwort
Flowering industrial plant of the genusPinguicula , commonly do it as butterworts , have gummy leaves that trap and digest petite insects such as gnats . Of the or so 80 known coinage , the majority survive in Central and South America .
If you get a pot of gnat and fruit fly in your home , a potted butterwort will enamour them by the 12 . As with most carnivorous plants , the 50 - 50 peat moss and perlite stain variety is central , as well as watering with distilled water or rainwater . An added incentive is that some of the specie give rise beautiful , colourful flowers double a year .
Cobra Lily
One of the most visually striking carnivorous plant isDarlingtonia californica , otherwise known as the cobra lily or California ewer plant . The hooded pitchers of these plants can rise up to three feet tall with head each the size of a fist .
Cobra lily are native to Oregon and Northern California , so the good style to keep these picky plants alive is to repeat their aboriginal surround as much as possible . The plants , which go dormant for a period in the wintertime , like lots of sunlight , well - drained territory , moderate summer , and parky nights . They are one of the more unmanageable carnivorous plants to grow , so beginners should opt for another species before tackling a cobra lily .
Bladderwort
Plants of the genusUtricularia , commonly known as bladderwort , are aquatic or subaquatic plant that immobilize small animals such as protozoon , water fleas , fish fry , and tadpole in their bladderlike trap .
Even the terrestrial species of bladderwort require moist soil at all times . The works bring on lovely flush that some equate to snapdragons or orchids .
Dewy Pine
Drosophyllum lusitanicum , usually known as the dewy pine , is a carnivorous plant that shares a physical resemblance with daily dew . bedewed true pine have leaves beaded with a mucilaginous secretion that traps insects like a daily dew , but the parting of a dewy pine do not coil around their prey like those of their carnivorous cousins . The dewy pine is aboriginal to a few field of the western Mediterranean , including Spain , Portugal , and Morocco .
When uprise in the United States , dewy pines thrive best as pot plants in expanse with blistering summers and rainy winters , such as California . Unlike most other carnivorous plants , adult dewy pines do n’t require as much around - the - clock moisture .
Monkey Cup
Nepenthes raja , also acknowledge as the rascal cup , is an endangered tropical pitcher flora native to Borneo . The plant suffer its name because monkeys have been observed drinking water from the plant ’ tremendous pitchers , which can each apply up to three liters of fluid . The rascal cupful is also the only industrial plant know capable of digesting a mammal — drowned rats have been found getting digested in the plant ’s pitchers .
At home , a monkey cup is take exception to grow outside of a greenhouse . They require undecomposed light , high humidness , and moist soil .
Albany Pitcher Plant
Cephalotus follicularis , unremarkably known as the Albany or Australian pitcher plant , is a small pitcher plant native to quaggy areas in Western Australia . jeopardize in the state of nature , Cephalotus follicularisproduces dark red pitchers that are run along with okay hairs in lustrous sunlight .
Although this carnivorous plant is covet for its colorful pitcher , they can be difficult to grow and are not suitable for beginners . The Albany pitcherful plant thrives dear in conditions find out in cool highland terrarium and greenhouses , or alfresco in coastal areas of Central and Southern California .
Dewstick
The genusRoridulahas two metal money of dirt ball - trapping bush ordinarily known as dewsticks or fly Bush . The leaves have sticky tentacles that trap insects but , unlike other carnivorous plants , the dewstick does not condense the trapped insects . Instead , insects of the genusPamerideaprey on the pin bugs and allow dung on the dewstick , which are then suffer .
Dewsticks are native to South Africa and prefer humid , lovesome , sunny , subtropical conditions . Their root are prostrate to rot if kept too wet during the wintertime month .
Rainbow Plant
The genusBybliscontains eight species of carnivorous industrial plant commonly have it off as rainbow plants because of how the sunlight glistens off their mucilage - covered leaves , which lying in wait insects endeavor to venture over the rainbow . All species are native to Australia and New Guinea and produce purple or white flower .
At home , rainbow plants seem to prefer a half - peat , half - sand mixture and should not be left in standing water . The plants command 8 to 10 hours of direct lightness , either instinctive or contrived .
Brocchinia reducta
Brocchinia reductais a type of carnivorous bromeliad aboriginal to several South American land . The leaves of this bromeliad form a water - hive away loving cup that produces a odorous aroma that attract dirt ball and drown them .
When kept at place , Brocchinia reductarequires being prey bloodworms , glitch , or fish solid food every two to three hebdomad . The grunge should be kept damp at all times using distilled water or rainwater .
