1. BLOOD TOOTH / HYDNELLUM PECKII
This cute fungus is like chewing gum, oozing blood and smelling like strawberries. But do not try to eat it, for it will be the last "delicacy" that you will taste in your life.

The fungus has been known to mankind since 1812 and is considered inedible, i.e. Once upon a time, in dark, pre-dark times, there lived a genius who sacrificed his life for the glory of science in order to warn descendants from eating this "delicacy". In addition to its outstanding external qualities, this abomination has antibacterial properties and contains blood thinning chemicals. But what can I say, soon this mushroom may become a substitute for penicillin (which, by the way, was derived from a fungus of the species Penicillium notatum). If you do not have enough thrills, and you intend to perpetuate your name in the annals of history by all means (the Darwin Prize and the title of the dumbest suicide on planet Earth are already in your pocket), then just lick this miracle of nature ...

2. DOLL'S EYE / DOLL'S EYE
At best, this "beauty" looks like an alien weed, and at worst, like a totem dug into the ground with human eyes planted on it, with which the serial killer marked the burial place of all his 666 victims. This unusual plant is called "doll eyes". There is also a less telling name for this creep - the white raven. This plant does not possess any features, except for its appearance, you can even taste it, then tell about your feelings.

3. SEA ANEMONE MUSHROOM
Sometimes, contemplating such creations, you begin to think about the sanity of the creator. Of course, there are times when disgusting things turn out to be quite pleasant to the taste, smell ... but this is not the case: the mushroom, called the "stinking octopus horn", not only looks disgusting, but also stinks, so that cannot be described words.

4. DEVIL'S CLAW
"Devil's claw" is something like the thorns of our burdock, which, being launched by the mark of the hand of your best friend, more than once entangled in your hair. The main difference between these two adhesives lies in their appearance: if the thorns of the burdock are small cute lumps that just ask for hands, then the devil's claw looks more like an evil man-eating spider, which is just waiting to cling to your throat. Once these demonic gizmos were "found" only in Arizona, where the native Americans (Indians) wove horrible-looking baskets out of them and laid out whole "minefields" with them, which the enemies preferred to bypass. Today, "demonic claws" have already completely occupied the entire Northwest of the United States. I feel that soon this abomination will reach Mother Russia, so if you don’t want to fall victim to the “devil's claw,” then start stocking up on Roundup and build barricades right now.

5. CHINESE BLACK BATFLOWERS
All the same, Batman did not accidentally choose a bat as a symbol of intimidation of the criminal population of Gotham. For these creatures of darkness are terrible: small evil eyes, thin legs with huge hooked nails, sharp teeth, a plump body, unevenly covered with hair, and huge wings - what is not a description of a terrible monster from another low-budget, but from this no less terrible, horror film? And if you are one of those who consider them cute little animals that eat fruit, then you will surely change your mind when one of these creatures grabs your face and sucks up all your blood ... but, unfortunately, it will be too late for you ... Mother Nature has done a great job trying to create the most creepy and at the same time disgusting plant, endowing it with all the hallmarks of a bat and adding a bunch of cord-like tentacles for fidelity. This creature of children's nightmares is called the Chinese mouse flower.

6. BUDDHA'S HAND
I don't know what crazy genius decided that this thing looks like a Buddha's hand, for me it is more like hentai tentacles that are about to grip another busty beauty. In fact, the nasty tentacles turn out to be quite an edible, one might even say delicious, citrus fruit that is incredibly popular in China and Japan. If you recall the chain of sorting-like restaurants, then it is not difficult to understand why the Chinese are crazy about eating this curiosity, but I did not expect this from the prim Japanese. In fact, the hand of the Buddha is a strange kind of lemon, which often contains nothing but the peel. Fructin attracts Eastern peoples not only with its unusual appearance, but also with its aromatic properties: in Japan, tea is made from it, and in China it is kept at home as a talisman that brings good luck, happiness in the house, drives away all evil spirits and bestows longevity. These lemon tentacles are also used to make jam, marmalade and perfume that smells of violets. And a little about the serious: it is traditionally believed that Buddha can cunningly wrap, twist and turn his fingers during prayer, and at such moments his hands are very similar to these monster-shaped lemon. As you wish, but if this is really so, then if I had the opportunity to meet Buddha or good-natured Freddy Krueger in a dark alleyway, I would most likely choose the latter.

7. VENERINA FLYET / DIONAEA MUSCIPULA
I dare to assume that even a couple of million years ago, these monsters devoured dinosaurs and were the full-fledged masters of the planet. But evolution is the enemy of maximalism, and all giants have either died out or, in order to survive, acquired more earthly dimensions, so today the flycatcher is a small plant that feeds exclusively on insects, caterpillars, slugs and frogs. How it works: There are many tiny, sensitive hairs inside the leafy mouth. A victim crawling onto a leaf irritates these hairs, which, in turn, signal the contraction of the cells in the inner part of the leaf and the “mouth” begins to close. After a while, the inner part of the leaf begins to secrete digestive fluid and, exhausted from unsuccessful attempts to get out, the victim begins to slowly digest (this process takes a long time. For example, it takes about a week for a flycatcher to digest a slug).

8.CEDAR-APPLE RUST FUNGUS
What turns a juicy, healthy apple into a rotting lump of vile horror that harbors a whole brood of worms? If your answer is a cedar-apple rotting mushroom (abbr. KYAGG), then, most likely, you showed ingenuity and just read this cunning interweaving of letters that adorns the beginning of this story! KYAGG is a fungal infection that transforms apple and cedar fruits beyond recognition. At least right now, you can make horror films about this abomination: the infected fruits literally turn into disgusting monsters in just a few months. Here's how it happens: from a tiny spore of the fungus, a spherical body of impressive size develops - from 3.5 to 5 centimeters in diameter, when wet, this abomination stratifies, forming a disgusting antennae. As a result, pine nuts and apples turn into little evil Cthulhu.

10. CHINESE FLEECEFLOWER
The runeflower fruits have frightening shapes that make them look like little potato people. The Chinese uproot these tiny underground inhabitants from the earth in order to use their naked, defenseless bodies as a panacea for all diseases, including impotence, cancer, AIDS, dementia, etc., etc ... Before turning into life-giving powder, little men are subjected to all kinds of torture, including: boiling, skinning, soaking in moonshine and dismemberment. Mark my words, soon the potatoes will get tired of the Chinese oppression and rebel against all of humanity. So think a few times before deciding to restore your "mojo" with the "rune flower".

11. PORCUPINE TOMATO
Porcupine tomato is a one and a half meter monster growing in Madagascar, the leaves of which are covered with frightening-looking orange thorns. This thorny miracle Yuda has incredibly beautiful purple flowers, gathered in bunches, with which it lures its victims to itself: and now you bend over to pluck one of them and find yourself impaled on “deadly” thorns. In addition to the fact that the Porcupine tomato is prickly and poisonous, it is still almost impossible to kill it: most chemicals are nothing to it and it can survive severe cold and even severe drought. As you already understood, this creation of nature is a monster-like weed, which has set itself the goal of its existence to seize your personal plot. In a short time, one plant can spawn a whole army of Porcupine tomatoes, which in a few weeks will turn into 1.5 meter giants, each of which will fight to the last and shed more than one liter of your blood before being uprooted from the ground.

For a long time, scientists have questioned the existence of predatory plants. The idea that among the representatives of the flora there are also killers, seemed to them, if not wild, then contrary to all the laws of botany. Nowadays, no one is surprised by sundews, Venus flytraps, Zhiryanka and water lilies - we have become accustomed to the fact that plants are also carnivorous. (site)

Insectivorous plants attract their victims in different ways: by smell, bright color, or sweetish secretions. They can be divided into several groups according to the type of traps they use to catch prey.

Some predators secrete a sticky substance that makes insects stick to their tormentors, others, as soon as a fly lands on them, close around it in deadly traps, someone sucks in their victims, someone catches them with claws resembling crab, and someone leaves folding into a jug. With their prey, carnivorous plants are brutally butchered, they secrete something that resembles gastric juice and digest the still living prisoner who has fallen into their trap.

But is it possible that in nature there were plants capable of trapping a person in their deadly trap and completely digesting him? In the second half of the twentieth century, the traveler Mariano de Silva discovered a predatory tree in the jungle of Brazil, which "preferred" to feed on monkeys. The scientist claims that he watched the creepy plant for several days, studying its mechanism for catching prey. It attracted curious animals with a sweet, fruity smell that made monkeys climb to the top of a tree for a treat. The unaware monkeys fell straight into the stomach of the monster, which wrapped around them in leaves and immediately began to digest. A few days later, the traveler's eyes were presented with the following picture: the plant unfolded its eerie leaves, dropping the bones of monkeys to the ground.

Agree that it sounds like a horror movie. However, much more terrible is the testimony of the German researcher of the 19th century Karl Liche. The scientist claimed that he saw with his own eyes a human sacrifice to a predator tree on the island of Madagascar. Local residents forced the unfortunate victim to climb a tree, which immediately wrapped its vines around her, and then squeezed the woman with huge leaves, digesting her in just a few days.

Scientists do not believe in the existence of predatory trees, but there was a time when they could not believe in the existence of the same marsh sundew. And who knows what plants unknown to us are still hiding in the impenetrable tropical jungle of the planet ...

By the way, the mysterious and little-studied Venezuela is believed to keep many predatory plants in their impenetrable fantastic forests, including man-eating plants.

Indoor plants are designed to purify the air and delight us with their beauty. But not all of them are as useful as we used to think. In nature, there are a huge number of plants that can be dangerous to both humans and domestic animals.
1. Mother-in-law's language (Sansevieria)

This plant is very unpretentious and perfectly copes with the task of cleaning the air, but it must be kept away from children, since the mother-in-law's tongue can cause sore throat, profuse drooling and nausea.
2. Hydrangea



A person or an animal who eats the buds of this flower will begin to have a severe stomach ache, this will provoke diarrhea, and breathing will also be difficult. You can even fall into a coma from this plant. You better not keep it in the house.
3. Aloe vera


This wonderful plant has many beneficial properties: it heals burns, cuts and other skin damage. But you should not use it inside, because aloe vera irritates the intestines, and the extract of this plant is contraindicated for animals.
4. Daffodils



The daffodil is certainly a very beautiful flower, but at the same time it is very toxic. It can cause nausea and diarrhea and high blood pressure. If you eat an onion, it can be fatal.
5. Iris



This plant can be dangerous for both children and adults. It causes nausea, vomiting, and a sharp rise in temperature, as in a fever.
6. Hyacinths



Like daffodils, these flowers cause vomiting and diarrhea. What's more, they can kill pets!
7. Dieffenbachia



It is a very popular herb, but few of its owners know that it leads to throat ailments. Dieffenbachia juice, if ingested by a child or pet, can kill them!
8. Oleander



A very toxic flower. The pet will die if it eats even a small leaf. And in adults, oleander causes weakness, dizziness, arrhythmias and muscle tremors.
9. Spathiphyllum



Very often, this plant causes allergic reactions, and once it gets into the human body, it can cause death. In less severe cases, spathiphyllum leads to swelling of the lips, mouth, and tongue.
10. English ivy



This plant is equally toxic to humans and animals. It causes respiratory distress, convulsions, vomiting, and in extreme cases, paralysis and coma.
Take the utmost care in choosing plants for your home, because they can not only purify the air, but also be very dangerous enemies of man. And share this important information with your friends and girlfriends!

HG Wells has a fantastic story "Strange Orchid", the hero of which almost dies in the arms of a bloodthirsty flower. The reason for its writing was newspaper publications about Madagascar, Brazil, Nicaragua and other hard-to-reach places. Each such message caused a storm of indignation among the armchair scientists, although plants that devour insects and even small animals were already known then.

A man-eating tree awaits its victims

One of the first mentions about it appeared in the New-York World magazine in 1880. It was the story of the German explorer Karl Liche about a sacrifice, which he witnessed in the jungle of Madagascar, before his eyes a beautiful young woman of one of the local tribes was sacrificed ... to a tree.
This tree reached a height of 2.5 meters, and was shaped like a pineapple, with leaves as sharp as knives. Serpentine vines wrapped around it, and at the top there were two formations that resembled either plates or palms facing each other. They secreted a thick juice that apparently possessed narcotic properties.
While the natives performed a ritual dance, the woman climbed a tree and began to lick off the juice, which became more and more. At some point, she, apparently falling into oblivion, fell between the "palms", which began to come closer, squeezing her body. There was a crunch of bones. The tentacle creepers shuddered, crawled towards the woman and began to cling to her body. The unfortunate woman's blood streamed down the trunk, mingling with the sweet sap of the killer tree. For ten days the terrible monster digested its prey, after which it “belched out” the skull of the unfortunate one.

According to Karl Liche, the bloodthirsty man-eating tree was well known to the inhabitants of Madagascar, who have long called their island "the land of the man-eating tree." However, none of the subsequent expeditions were able to find anything resembling a monster in the jungle, and the researcher was considered a liar.

Man-eating tree or green vampire

On August 27, 1892, the Illustrated London News reported about a tree growing in Nicaragua and devouring dogs, naturalist J. Dunsten was studying plants near one of the lakes in Nicaragua when he heard the heart-rending barking of his dog. Rushing to where the dog was barking. Dunsten found that it was entwined with a web of rope-like roots and filaments, as well as a hideous black liana that gave off a thick, sticky mass. With great difficulty, Dunsten managed to break this net and free the dog, whose skin turned out to be covered with wounds inflicted, apparently, by a vine that was about to drink dog blood. The locals knew this terrible plant well and called it the "snake tree". In their opinion, it could suck all the blood out of the dog in a few minutes.
Man-eating tree met in the virgin forests of Central America and English ethnographers. The leader of the expedition, Dr. Keyleb Anders, wrote: “From the Indians we have heard more than once that in the thick of the forests there are predatory plants, supposedly feeding on living things. One of them looks like a thick cactus, dotted with sharp thorns-daggers. As soon as an unwary person comes close to him, green "knives" instantly pinch him from all sides and pierce his body. Blood begins to flow from the cuts, which the green vampire quickly absorbs through the sponge-like bark. "

Anders goes on to describe in detail the encounter with this tree, which, fortunately, was without casualties.
Another case occurred in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountains in Mexico. American traveler Steve Spike witnessed how a bird sat on a branch of a vampire tree, and that, like a living snake, wrapped around the victim and squeezed it, greedily absorbing the emerging blood. After a while, the tree threw a corpse squeezed like a lemon to the ground, not impressed by this sight, Spike touched one of the branches, and in the blink of an eye she squeezed his hand in a death grip. The traveler managed to snatch his hand out, leaving a piece of his skin for the green vampire as a keepsake.
In about the same region of Mexico in 1933, the French explorer Byron de Prophet also saw a huge man-eating tree. The bird landed on one of its huge leaves, which curled up and thrust its thorns into the bird's body.

Cannibal tree in Africa

A sensation in 1958 was a photograph of a man-eating tree taken by biologist Klaus von Schwimmer in the wilds of Central Africa. Schwimmer organized an expedition intending to explore the headwaters of the Capomobo River in Northern Rhodesia. Five whites and 20 porters, led by an experienced hunter and translator from the Barotse tribe, took part in it, the travelers climbed the river in motor boats, then went deeper into the jungle, where in a large clearing they saw a lone tree like an Indian banyan tree, which, in addition to a thick main the trunk was still somewhat thinner. The crown of the tree consisted of long, wide leaves, and many vines hung from the branches. In addition, the tree gave off a surprisingly strong pleasant smell that made travelers rush to it, but then Schwimmer saw a thick layer of bones under the tree and shouted for people to stop. Everyone obediently froze, but one of the porters came too close to the green monster. The vines hanging from the tree stirred and reached out to the man, entwining him. It was not possible to snatch the poor man from the clutches of the green monster. The only thing that the members of the expedition could do. - to avenge the murder.
Armfuls of brushwood were brought to the foot of the tree, which were immediately set on fire. The man-eating tree, as if sensing imminent death, “fired” its tentacle vines into the fire and immediately pulled them back. Soon the lower branches and the thin trunks that supported them began to smoke. The burning monster gave off a terrifying stench
The von Schwimmer report so outraged researchers in tropical Africa that a criminal case was opened against him on charges of falsification and fraud, but the British, who were in the jungle with Schwimmer, showed under oath that he was telling the truth. Moreover, Professor de Grost of Cape Town sought out several people in Rhodesia who were Schwimmer's porters, who confirmed his story.
And a year later, the Brussels Tropical Institute organized a new expedition to Rhodesia. Focusing on the records of the first expedition, she easily managed to find both the "clearing of death" and a huge number of bones of various animals and people under a layer of ash.

Cannibal tree - eater of Brazilian monkeys

In the 70s of the last century, the Brazilian naturalist Mariano da Silva, traveling across South America, in a tropical forest on the border between Brazil and Guyana, discovered a tree that attracted monkeys with an intoxicating smell. Smelling it, the animals, forgetting about caution, climbed up the trunk until the leaves of the crown closed over them, enclosing them in a dense cocoon. Intoxicated monkeys died without even having time to squeak. According to da Silva, for three days the green monster digested the prey, and then "belched" the gnawed bones on the ground.
The debate about whether man-eating trees exist continues to this day, because while most of them are described only in travel diaries, science has yet to deal with these monsters, which are distant relatives of such insectivorous plants as sundew, Venus flytrap and nepentes, which there are more than 70 species in the rainforests of South Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia.

Not all plants feed only on nutrients from the air and soil. Among them there are also predatory plants that eat insects, small crustaceans, and even fish fry ... it happens that a person becomes a victim of a plant. Predatory plants live in unusual conditions: in the desert, in raised bogs, wet rocks, swampy meadows - on poor soil, poor in nutrients. Therefore, they have developed the ability to assimilate live protein food, grabbing it literally from the air.

They have not lost the ability to feed on inorganic substances from the soil and air. Simply living on soil poor in nitrogenous salts and other minerals forced them to look for additional sources of food. Many predatory plants live in swamps and swamps, and due to the prey they catch they make up for the lack of nitrogen for themselves. Predatory plants are able to live without protein food, but from this they become very stunted.

Predatory, or carnivorous, insectivorous plants catch prey with special trap leaves. All carnivorous plants have beautiful flowers and brightly colored leaves. Insects fly for nectar and are trapped. When insects are caught by the bait, they either stick to a leaf with sticky glandular hairs, or turn out to be trapped by leaves in the form of special traps. The victim's body is digested with the help of special enzymes or destroyed by organic acids secreted by plants.

Predatory plants are divided into three groups of trap organs. These are plants with moving organs-traps (sundew, zhiryanka, flycatcher); with sticky sticky leaves (dewdrop growing in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco); with bubbles, jugs and "trapping pits" in the form of tubes (pemphigus, nepentes, saracenia).

Insectivorous - perennial herbaceous plants, there are not very many species, only about 500. Some soil fungi are also predators. They are found in all ecosystems in different parts of the world and grow on soil and in water. As a rule, these plants are inhabitants of areas with warm, temperate and tropical climates, they love the sun. The better known to us are sundew and zhiryanka - inhabitants of peat bogs.

Giant carnivorous plants

Giant carnivorous plants can be found in the tropical jungles of Madagascar. Aboriginal people talk about a tree that can eat a person. German naturalist K. Liche witnessed how “a palm tree with a thick pineapple-shaped trunk and a height of about 2.5 meters” ate a woman. The scientist saw a rite of sacrifice to this tree.

After a ritual dance, a young woman was brought to the tree, she climbed up the trunk and began to lick the juice from two huge leaves in the form of open palms, until she fell into a trance. Then the two-meter lianas began to close around her. Gradually the leaves-palms clenched. The girl screamed. After 10 days, Likhe found only the bones of the victim under this tree.

According to scientists, several million years ago, predatory plants were larger in size. Their growth has decreased as a result of climate change. Since the climate has changed less in the equatorial tropical zones, the ancestors of carnivorous plants should be looked for there.

In the middle of the 20th century, the German scientist K. Schwimmer went on an expedition to check rumors about a monster devouring people in Northern Rhodesia (Central Africa). The search for the monster ended with the find of a man-eating tree. Coming to the source of the spicy intoxicating smell, the members of the expedition saw a grove tree, the lush crown of which was supported by thick shoots.

Schwimmer found many bones under a tree. With a slap in the face, he revived his companions, intoxicated with a narcotic scent. The travelers plugged their nostrils with chewing gum and conducted an experiment. They shot a vulture and threw it into a tree. Lianas immediately wrapped themselves around the bird. As soon as the researchers moved back a little, they heard a chilling cry: the negro-porter had become the prey of the tree. It was impossible to save him. Hearing from Schwimmer about what had happened, the leader of the tribe ordered the terrible plant to be burned.

1970 Brazilian naturalists saw a palm-like tree feeding on monkeys and sloths.

The so-called "Tree of Justice" was discovered in the forests of Central America. It got its name from the Goboro tribe. According to the leader of the tribe, suspects of murder or theft are brought to trial by the tree: it releases the innocent, and sucks the blood of the criminals.

It was a tree with two trunks growing 1 meter apart, and with long vines. According to eyewitnesses, they, in fact, twisted, but immediately released the girl, who decided to test the words of the leader in practice. It can be assumed that the tree reacts to substances that are released from fear by a criminal who is placed between the tree trunks.

Vampire mushrooms

The powerful impact of radiation on nature caused by the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant led to the appearance of monstrous mushrooms in the forests of the Kiev, Gomel and Bryansk regions. These vampire mushrooms secrete a sticky substance that insects stick to. Then the mushroom grows into the victim's body with a thin tube and sucks out its contents. Other mushrooms, "rocket launchers", shoot spores at the insect, the spore grows in the victim's body, kills it and gives life to a new mushroom.

Sundew

The sundew is so called because droplets of sticky mucus shine on it, which look like dew or honey droplets. The sundew itself is colored red-green. The leaves of this small carnivorous plant are covered with 25 cilia on the upper side of the leaf blade and along the edges, where the longest ones are located. The upper end of the cilia is thickened. It is there that the gland is located, which secretes sticky mucus. Insects fly to the predatory sundew, attracted by the glitter of this droplet. But barely touching the fox, they stick. Soon, after 10 or 20 minutes, the eyelash to which the victim is stuck will bend towards the center of the leaf. All adjacent cilia will also bend.

After that, the edge of the leaf plate will bend, and the trap will close. If there is a protein-free substance on the cilia, for example, a drop of rain, they will not move. The enzymes secreted by the cilia break down protein (sundew enzymes are similar to pepsin, the gastric juice of animals). After the predator has dined, the cilia straighten, again become covered with "dew" and lure new flies. Sometimes the digestive process takes several days. The South African royal sundew - a plant of half a meter - is capable of digesting even snails and frogs.

Zhiryanka

Green leaves are much larger than sundew leaves. They are covered with mucus and this makes them seem greasy. If you look at a section of a leaf under a microscope, you can see two types of glands: some are like mushrooms with caps, others are just caps without legs. There are up to 25 thousand glands on one square centimeter of a leaf of Zhiryanka. When an insect sticks to a leaf and causes irritation, the plant immediately releases digestive juices. The fatty woman eats the insect even faster than the sundew: it takes a day.

Pemphigus

The most complex traps are found in pemphigus. These are plants without roots. They are rarely found more than 2 mm in diameter. Pemphigus, which lives in swamp water, catches and eats insect larvae, fry and crustaceans. The leaves of the predator float in the water, and a stem with large yellow flowers is visible above the water. Its heavily dissected leaf was transformed in the process of development, because some of its parts became hollow bubbles.

Each such bubble has its own mouth, framed by stiff bristles. The inner lining of the trap is covered with hairs that constantly absorb liquid, therefore negative pressure is created in the cavity. As soon as the valve opens, water enters the bubble along with the victim. You can't get out of the bubble. Its walls inside are covered by the digestive glands. When a crustacean or fry dies in a trap and decomposes, the plant “digests” its remains.

It has long been known that sundews and porkweed produce a protein-digesting enzyme. A person uses this feature when cleaning earthen jugs from milk residues. They are evaporated with a decoction of sundew leaves, which decomposes milk protein even in the pores of pottery.

There are florists who grow these carnivorous plants at home. "Predators" are dug up together with peat moss, "settled" in a terrarium, and covered with glass on top so that the plant has enough moisture. The owners of predatory plants have to catch flies for feeding them, some manage to feed them with pieces of meat and cottage cheese.

Saracenia purple

Saracenia purple is widespread, in which the leaf petiole has turned into a tube, and the leaf blade has turned into a lid above it. Even when Saracenia is not in bloom, its emerald-crimson or yellow-red leaves attract midges. Little Saracenia and California Darlingtonia have one more snag for insects: the canopies above the traps shine through, the insect takes the gap as an exit, takes off, hits the wall and falls into the liquid.

Insects drown in liquid, are digested, and then the remains are absorbed by the walls of the tube. The favorite food of this plant is cockroaches and flies. The Saracenia family includes 10 species of Saracenia, Californian Darlingtonia and six types of Heliamphora. They live in swamps in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of southern North America and northeastern South America.

Venus flytrap

In the vicinity of Wilmington, North Carolina, the Venus flytrap grows in peat bogs. Its leaves are a kind of trap. Each of them is divided into two parts, the lower part extracts nutrients from the air, and the upper one catches insects. Two movable leaf lobes have sharp teeth, and each of them has three long elastic bristles.

As soon as a fly or a mosquito touches the bristles, the slices quickly slam shut and pinch the insect. Resistance will only strengthen the predatory plant's grip. The victim breaks out, and the leaf slices squeeze it harder and harder. Then small red glands begin to secrete sour transparent juice. For 1–3 weeks, the flycatcher eats the insect, and its lobules return to their previous position. After two or three meals, the leaf dies off. Why is this Venus flytrap? They say that she was given this name because the trap leaves are shaped like sea shells, which have long been considered a symbol of the feminine principle.

An experiment with a plant showed that if you touch the bristles with a stick, the trap slams, but upon discovering that there is no food in it, the plant reopens. It reacts even if the victim weighs only 0.0008 milligrams. It is curious that the trap slams shut only when the victim touches two or more hairs. If only one bristle is disturbed, then the trap will not work. So some lucky ones manage to carefully crawl over to the nectar and enjoy it.

Aldrovanda

According to the same principle as the Venus flytrap, the underwater plant Aldrovanda from the sundew family catches its prey.

The orangutans' favorite delicacy is the digestive juice from large jugs of nepentes (a genus of insectivorous plants, part of the stem of which has been turned into a jug). It tastes sour and is very refreshing in the heat.

Nepentes - bushy vines

Under the forest canopy in the tropics of Madagascar, South Asia and Indonesia, New Guinea, Northern Australia, the Seychelles, in the warm and humid jungle, bizarre nepentes - bushy vines grow.

This, a predatory plant, uses another plant instead of support, developing on it. Thus, trees and shrubs growing nearby are entwined with petioles of nepentes leaves, and between the branches there are blue, red, green jugs, which are the "hunting organs" of the plant. After evolving, the nepentes leaf turned into a brightly colored jug with a lid, and its middle part into a tendril. The length of jugs-traps in various species ranges from 4 to 60 cm.

These insectivores, passively catch insects. For some of these plants, the jug holds up to one liter of liquid, so not only large insects, but even small birds can get there. In addition to its bright color, insects are attracted to nepentes by its aromatic nectar. It stands out around the rim of the jug and looks like a smooth wax coating. The victim sits on the jug, then gradually moves to its inner side, which is slippery due to plaque, and slides along it to the bottom, into a viscous liquid.

Coarse hairs inside the jug prevent her from getting up. These sharp hairs are directed downward, which allows the caught victim to easily slide to the bottom, but makes it difficult to exit the jug. After 5-7 hours, the extraction of nepentes is digested. The stomach jugs work all the time. These vines are also called "hunting cups": you can drink pure water from them, however, only from above, because at the bottom there are undigested insects. Giant nepentes grow on the island of Borneo, sometimes pigeons, other birds, and also small animals fall into their jugs.

Giant biblis

The inhabitants of Australia have found good use for the leaves of another famous carnivorous plant - the giant biblis. The narrow leaves of this short shrub secrete a substance with such a strong adhesive effect that at times frogs and small birds adhere to them. Australians use this substance as an adhesive.