Question

Carnivorous plants like Nepenthes and Venus flytrap have nutritional adaptations. Which nutrients do they especially obtain and from where.

Answer 1

Hint: As we know that all carnivorous plants grow in places where soil is very poor in minerals and too acidic for survival. Nepenthes is a tropical pitcher plant also called Monkey trap and it attracts and kills prey through active production of colours and sugary nectar and Venus flytrap uses animal proteins to enable their survival.

Complete Answer:
- As we all know that Nepenthes and Venus flytrap both are carnivorous plants as they trap various small creatures and animals inside them and kill them. Let us talk about Nepenthes first.
- Nepenthes is usually several metres long and consists of a shallow root system and a prostate climbing stem. It contains a fluid which is produced by the plant itself, it is watery or viscous and is used for drowning the prey.
- Viscoelastic fluids help in retention of insects and its lower part contains glands to absorb nutrients from prey. This plant primarily grows in a nitrogen and phosphorus deficient environment. Thus it attracts and kills their prey by producing sugary nectar and attractive colours and sweet scents and they dissolve these trapped animals using enzymes and bacterial action to gain the nutrients for their growth. They normally obtain it through their roots.
- Then comes the Venus flytrap, again a carnivorous plant but they normally do not rely on carnivory for energy but rather use the animal protein that is rich in nitrogen. This plant possesses long leaves with blades that can enclose an insect and the glands present on its leaf surface secretes a red coloured sap that helps in digestion of the insect's body that finally provides it with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.
- Therefore from the above explanation we can say that Nepenthes and Venus flytrap obtain their nutrients especially nitrogen and phosphorus from the insects or animals they kill by dissolving them through their enzyme action.

Note: Nepenthes is also called monkey cups or monkey traps because monkeys are usually seen drinking the rainwater from these plants.