Plant Design Online
Sundew
Sundews are insectiverous (sometimes called carniverous) plants. They live in nutrient-poor habitats, usually with acidic soil. In bogs, which typically have acid soil, nitrogen uptake is blocked and plants need an alternate source of nitrogen, which is essential to cellular activities. Insect bodies provide this nitrogen.
The sundew has enzyme-rich droplets at the end of specialized glands on its leaves. Small insects become stuck on the glands, whose enzymes degrade the insects' outer coating (exoskeleton) and digest the insect bodies, releasing nitrogen from their cells into the cells of the plant.
Please join me in my blog: "Botany Without Borders: Where Design Meets Science"
Sundew
Sundews are insectiverous (sometimes called carniverous) plants. They live in nutrient-poor habitats, usually with acidic soil. In bogs, which typically have acid soil, nitrogen uptake is blocked and plants need an alternate source of nitrogen, which is essential to cellular activities. Insect bodies provide this nitrogen.
The sundew has enzyme-rich droplets at the end of specialized glands on its leaves. Small insects become stuck on the glands, whose enzymes degrade the insects' outer coating (exoskeleton) and digest the insect bodies, releasing nitrogen from their cells into the cells of the plant.
Please join me in my blog: "Botany Without Borders: Where Design Meets Science"