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Manor Heath and Jungle Experience

The savage garden

Most of the plants in this area are called 'Carnivorous Plants' which can catch and eat small insects and flies. They have evolved in this way because the areas in which they grow are very poor in plant nutrients. The plants supplement their diet by enticing and trapping their prey in specially adapted parts of the plant before digesting them with enzymes and absorbing the nutrients.

The mature Venus Fly Trap has jaw like leaves, which snap shut when a fly or other small insect triggers hairs in the centre of the trap. The Venus flytrap plant grows in the wild in South Carolina in the USA.

The Monkey Cup or Nepenthes sometimes called the Picture plant has jug like traps, when an insect descends into the trap to find food, downward pointing hairs prevent it from escaping.

The North American Pitcher plant or Sarracenia attract their food by growing long tube like traps with a sweet smelling substance at the bottom.

Some species of Butterwort or Pinguicula are native to Ireland and are sometimes grown in bog gardens in the UK The rosette type leaves feel like butter when touched. Cultivated species attract fungus gnats and whitefly.

Bladderwort or Utricularia - The trapping mechanism is well hidden and is sometimes underground or even under water. Species of this plant can be found growing in continents all over the world. The bladder has a trapdoor, which opens inwards with two or three trigger hairs on the outside. When a microscopic insect such as a nematode touches one of the hairs it is sucked in by a vacuum together with a small amount of water, which is slowly released leaving the insect inside.

Some Sundew plants, Drosera have rosette type sticky leaves, which shine like jewels in the sun waiting to trap unsuspecting small insects.

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