Fly Papers Fact #10

When it comes to creating slippery surfaces, Nepenthes plants are the experts. Their pitchers are super slippery - all the better to send bugs sliding down inside.

Recognising the Nepenthes' superiority in this area, scientists have copied their techniques, and made a new kind of extra-slip surface that could be used for anything from self-cleaning windows, to faster, more efficient water pipes.

Read more here.

Photo courtesy of Alastair Robinson at en.wikipedia

Fly Papers Fact #9

A planned new coal mine threatens the Denniston plateau - a rare and beautiful landscape on the West Coast of the South Island. The plateau is home to many endangered species - and we hear it's also one of the best places to see New Zealand's native carnivorous plants in the wild.

Help save this precious place.

Fly Papers Fact #8

'Venus flytraps are the speed demons of the plant world', and can shut their traps in a tenth of second!

More info on how they catch and digest their prey here.

(Thanks Andrew Broome for the link AND photo.)

Fly Papers Fact #7

Is your Venus flytrap looking sad ... withered ... shabby?

Don't despair. They often look that way in winter. They need the rest so they can burst back into life in spring.

There are basic instructions on growing a Venus flytrap here. (It was written in America though, so remember their seasons are at different times of the year from ours ... November is roughly the start of their winter; March the start of their spring.)

There are handy instructions for growing a Venus flytrap at the back of The Flytrap Snaps, too.