Fatal Attraction

Carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients (but not energy) from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Charles Darwin wrote the first well-known treatise on carnivorous plants in 1875.

Five basic trapping mechanisms are found in carnivorous plants.

Pitfall traps (pitcher plants) trap prey in a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes or bacteria.
Flypaper traps use a sticky mucilage.
Snap traps utilize rapid leaf movements.
Bladder traps suck in prey with a bladder that generates an internal vacuum.
Lobster-pot traps force prey to move towards a digestive organ with inward-pointing hairs.

The primitive pitchers of Heliamphora chimantensis are an example of pitfall traps.

The snap traps of Dionaea muscipula close rapidly when triggered to trap prey between two lobes.

Sources
Carnivorous Plants - National Geographic Magazine
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/carnivorous-plants/zimmer-text
YouTube - Plantas Carnivoras
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZWus82h3MY&feature=related
Carnivorous plant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivorous_plant
YouTube - Mouse gets eaten by Nepenthes carnivorous plant!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJCaG4tOaAU&feature=related
YouTube - frog eaten by venus flytrap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymnLpQNyI6g&feature=related

Related
Barry's Book
http://www.sarracenia.com/cp.html
The Carnivorous Plant FAQ
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html
Carnivorous Plants
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/carnivor.htm
International Carnivorous Plant Society Homepage
http://www.carnivorousplants.org/