CLASSIFICATION Plant Classification
There is no one correct classification system agreed upon by botanists. Even the names given to groups can vary among them. The organization used below is offered as one possibility and serves as a guide. For simplicity only the more common vascular plants are included here, even though there are carnivorous fungi. Four specific examples are given: a carnivorous bromeliad, Brocchinia reducta; Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula; Intermediate Sundew, Drosera intermedia; and the Yellow Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia flava.
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Embryophyta
Division: Tracheophyta
Subdivision: Spermatophyta
Class: Angiosperms
Subclass: Monocotyledons
Order: Bromeliales
Family: Bromeliaceae
Genus: Brocchinia
Species: reducta
Subclass: Dicotyledons
Order: Nepenthales
Family: Droseraceae
Genus: Dionaea
Species: muscipula
Genus: Drosera
Species: intermedia
Order: Sarraceniale
Family: Sarraceniaceae
Genus: Sarracenia
Species: flava
NEPENTHES
Diversity
~120 species
The Nepenthes popularly known as Tropical Pitcher Plants or Monkey Cups, are a genus of carnivorous plants in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae that comprises roughly 120 species, numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are vine-forming plants of the Old World tropics, ranging from South China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines; westward to Madagascar (2 species) and the Seychelles (1); southward to Australia (3) and New Caledonia (1); and northward to India (1) and Sri Lanka (1). The greatest diversity occurs on Borneo and Sumatra with many endemic species. Many are plants of hot humid lowland areas, but the majority are tropical montane plants, receiving warm days but cool to cold humid nights year round. A few are considered tropical alpine with cool days and nights near freezing. The name 'Monkey Cups' refers to the fact that monkeys have been observed drinking rainwater from these plants.
DROSERA 
The master of sticky fly paper, Drosera (sundew), is a slow trap compared to the one in Venus Flytrap. However, the sundew relies on first trapping its prey with its sticky, glandular hairs, as shown in Figure 1, before it slowly rolls up the edges of the leaf. It does not fold like the Venus fly trap, but it can effective enclose small flies with the numerous hairs.
The sundews, so named because their glandular leaf hairs glisten like dew in the sun, are not only common in bogs, but can occur on sandy banks and other mineral soils poor in organic nitrogen and phosphorus. So fascinating is this tiny plant that Darwin (1875) spent 285 pages of his book on insectivorous plants describing his own experiments on it.
The hairs are stalked glands and produce digestive juices that decompose the trapped prey. These digestive enzymes, including protease and phosphatase, increase in production once a prey has been captured, reaching maximum concentration about the fourth day.
Although one sundew is hardly an effective means of eliminating insect pests, Oliver (in Heslop-Harrison, 1978) counted insects trapped in a sampling of plants in England and estimated that about six million insects were trapped in a bog of about two acres!
Darwin cultivated sundews and showed that those that were fed insects were more vigorous, produced more flowers, and set more seeds than the ones that were denied any prey (in Heslop-Harrison, 1978). Pate and Dixon found that 40% of the amino acid arginine stored in the underground corms of Drosera had come from the insects they had experimentally fed with labeled nitrogen (in Heslop-Harrison, 1978).
The sundews, so named because their glandular leaf hairs glisten like dew in the sun, are not only common in bogs, but can occur on sandy banks and other mineral soils poor in organic nitrogen and phosphorus. So fascinating is this tiny plant that Darwin (1875) spent 285 pages of his book on insectivorous plants describing his own experiments on it.
The hairs are stalked glands and produce digestive juices that decompose the trapped prey. These digestive enzymes, including protease and phosphatase, increase in production once a prey has been captured, reaching maximum concentration about the fourth day.
Although one sundew is hardly an effective means of eliminating insect pests, Oliver (in Heslop-Harrison, 1978) counted insects trapped in a sampling of plants in England and estimated that about six million insects were trapped in a bog of about two acres!
Darwin cultivated sundews and showed that those that were fed insects were more vigorous, produced more flowers, and set more seeds than the ones that were denied any prey (in Heslop-Harrison, 1978). Pate and Dixon found that 40% of the amino acid arginine stored in the underground corms of Drosera had come from the insects they had experimentally fed with labeled nitrogen (in Heslop-Harrison, 1978).
URTICULARIA
Other common names: Greater Bladderwort
Family: Bladderwort Family (Lentibulariaceae)
Distinctive features: Small plants growing in bogs/fens or water. No visible leaves. Bright yellow flower. Floating plant. Bladders scattered amongst roots.
Similar species:
Horned Bladderwort (Urticularia cornuta) - rooted in mud in bogs or fens; roots not visible.
Flat-leaved Bladderwort (Urticularia intermedia) - also floating, bladders on separate stalks.
Flowers: Summer; Yellow; Irregular Flowers; Yellow, on short stalks rising above the water. Summer.
Leaves: No Apparent Leaves; None or very tiny.
Height: Short, only a few inches tall.
Stem: Short, smooth, serving only to hold flowers above the water.
Habitat: Bogs and fens.
Books: Newcombe's Wildflower Guide: 16 Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers: 122 ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario: 302
Family: Bladderwort Family (Lentibulariaceae)
Distinctive features: Small plants growing in bogs/fens or water. No visible leaves. Bright yellow flower. Floating plant. Bladders scattered amongst roots.
Similar species:
Horned Bladderwort (Urticularia cornuta) - rooted in mud in bogs or fens; roots not visible.
Flat-leaved Bladderwort (Urticularia intermedia) - also floating, bladders on separate stalks.
Flowers: Summer; Yellow; Irregular Flowers; Yellow, on short stalks rising above the water. Summer.
Leaves: No Apparent Leaves; None or very tiny.
Height: Short, only a few inches tall.
Stem: Short, smooth, serving only to hold flowers above the water.
Habitat: Bogs and fens.
Books: Newcombe's Wildflower Guide: 16 Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers: 122 ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario: 302
