Carnivorous Plants

Carnivorous plants have a unique strategy for finding nutrients in poor soil: they catch insects.

Florida has dozens of species of carnivorous plants, more than any other state in the U.S. They’re mostly found in the panhandle, but grow in bogs as far south as Central Florida.

There are several kinds of carnivorous plants: sundews, butterworts, bladderworts, and pitcher plants. They use appealing scents, leaves that trap insects, and sticky fluids that help imprison their prey. Then they produce digestive fluids that absorb the insect and its nutrients.

You can grow carnivorous plants at home. These wetland plants need a moist environment and lots of light. They’re best grown outdoors in containers with a moist medium, or in rain gardens. They can also be grown indoors in a well-lit terrarium.

Many of these plants are native to Florida, but are threatened. Don’t remove plants from the wild; only purchase plants grown by respectable retailers.

Sundews have tiny hair-like tentacles that secrete sticky sap. This sap looks like dew drops and attracts insects, which get stuck in the sap. Similarly, butterworts have leaves that act like sticky tape, releasing an enzyme to break down trapped insects. Bladderwort is an aquatic, rootless carnivorous plant that floats in lakes, ponds, or wetlands. When the hairs on its tiny bladder-like contraptions are triggered as something swims by, a “trap door” closes on the unsuspecting insect or tiny aquatic organism. The prey is then dissolved and absorbed.

American pitcher plants (Sarracenia) are equally as interesting—they have colorful, funnel-shaped leaves that attract prey to a nectar-lined leaf rim. From there, the insects fall down the slippery “pitcher,” to be trapped and digested by the plant. Some native commercially available pitcher plants include yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava), whitetop pitcher plant (S. leucophylla), hooded pitcher plant (S. minor), and parrot pitcher plant (S. psittacina).

American pitcher plants (and many bladderworts) like to be in very water-saturated areas, so keep that in mind when choosing a location and watering schedule. On the other hand, sundews and butterworts cannot survive being completely flooded and are better suited for moderately wet soil versus drenched soil.

Also on Gardening Solutions

• Bog Gardens

More from UF/IFAS

• Captivating Carnivorous Plants of Central Florida–UF/IFAS Blogs Lake County
• Drosera capillaris, Pink Sundew–CAIP Plant Directory
• Florida’s Aquatic Carnivorous Plants — Yes, Aquatic! UF/IFAS Blogs Calhoun County
• Native Pitcherplants of Florida–Ask IFAS
• Weekly What Is It? Sundews–UF/IFAS Blogs Escambia County

Other Sites

• Carnivorous and Insectivorous Plants–The Botanical Society of America
• Godfrey’s Butterwort, Pinguicula ionantha–Florida’s Natural Areas Inventory Field Guide (pdf)
• A Look at Drosera–Florida Native Plant Society