Exhibition showcases insectivorous plants

An exhibition featuring nearly 120 varieties of insectivorous plants opened at Chenshan Botanical Garden in Songjiang District recently.

The exhibition is not only artistic and ornamental but also highlights the peculiarity of the plants, including several rare and endangered varieties introduced and cultivated by the garden.

In 1875, Darwin described a type of plant that could "eat" insects and arthropods to supplement its own nutrients, and he called them "insectivorous plants." The plants are mostly distributed in acidic, swampy, and peat-like areas.

Due to the lack of essential nitrogen in their growing environment, they have evolved the ability to attract, capture, and digest prey to obtain nitrogen through natural selection.

Currently, there are about 630 known varieties of insectivorous plants, distributed across 10 families. Different insectivorous plants have various ways of catching insects.

The pitfall trapping method is one of the main ways insectivorous plants catch insects. Pitfall-type insectivorous plants all have trap leaves similar to bottles, causing insects to fall into them. Some trap bottles have a lid on top, with nectar glands distributed on it, used to secrete sweet mucus to attract insects.

The trap bottle contains rainwater and digestive fluid, which can drown small insects and decompose and absorb them.

The exhibition mainly showcases this kind of insectivorous plants and paper work art installation, paintings, and dried flowers are also part of the display.

If you go

Hours: 8am - 5:30pm, through July 28

Address: 3888 Chenhua Highway, Songjiang District 松江区辰花公路3888号