The Fly Papers

A new carnivorous plant discovered!

2012-01-16T12:57:00.003+13:00

A few scientists have suspected that the Brazilian plant Philcoxia could be carnivorous - now they've proved it.

It makes you wonder how many other plants in the world are carnivorous, without us realising.

Petals that pong

2011-11-17T09:51:00.001+13:00

Recently the rare Devil's Tongue flower bloomed at the Wellington Botanic Gardens. It looks sinister, and smells like rotten flesh.

Here at Hinterlands HQ we had our own stinky flower, which you can see above. Carnivorous pitcher plant flowers often smell, er, interesting, but this one was especially overpowering - filling the room with clouds of cat pee stench.

Well, at least the flies liked it.

Fly Papers Fact #10

2011-09-30T10:43:00.000+13:00

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

2011-09-20T12:36:00.001+12:00

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

2011-09-16T13:21:00.002+12:00

'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

2011-09-02T05:16:00.000+12:00

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.

Fly Papers Fact #6

2011-08-29T12:27:00.001+12:00

It's not our usual kind of fact ... but did you know you can take a photo of yourself reading a book, enter it in a competition, and be in to win a box of chocolate fish?

We like this kind of fact.

More info at the Booksellers NZ website.

Fly Papers Fact #5

2011-08-16T06:29:00.004+12:00

Bladderworts look innocent, but beneath the surface of the soil or water they grow in, they set the most sophisticated traps in the carnivorous plant world - little vacuum sacs with trapdoors! When a bug triggers the trap, the door opens, the bug is sucked in, and the door shuts behind it, all in milliseconds.

New Zealand has several native bladderwort species. More about our native carnivorous plants here.

Photo of NZ bladderwort copyright Phil Garnock-Jones.

Fly Papers Fact #4

2011-08-07T20:05:00.002+12:00

When they're not being toilets OR drinking bowls (see Fly Papers Fact #3), Nepenthes plants can trap some decent-sized prey - lizards, rats, mice ...

Here's one that ate a bird.

Fly Papers Fact #3

2011-08-05T13:22:00.001+12:00

What a useful kind of carnivorous plant the Nepenthes is. If it's not acting as a toilet, it's offering its services as a water bowl. Monkeys in rainforests have been seen drinking from these plants' water-filled pitchers. Hence their nickname - Monkey Cup.

See a whole gallery of Nepenthes!

Fly Papers Fact #2

2011-08-03T14:00:00.008+12:00

Compared to some countries, New Zealand doesn't have many native carnivorous plant species. But we do have amazing native sundews.

Sundews are a kind of carnivorous plant with rounded or tentacle-like leaves, covered in hairs. On those hairs are droplets of oozy, glistening, sticky stuff - sticky enough to trap insects - which the plant then slowly digests.

More about NZ carnivorous plants here!

Fly Papers Fact #1

2011-08-01T10:28:00.006+12:00

Some very large carnivorous plants feed on animal poo. They grow pitchers that make perfect toilet bowls for small mammals.

More about that here!