Re: Drosera and ants

Steven Klitzing (stevek@informix.com)
Thu, 25 Aug 94 07:38:27 -0700

> Well, since I've got more ants than flies these days, I'll try
> it out on the various mutant Drosera that I have (the ones that
> are trying to take over the world...).
>
> -BJ
>

You might try the Drosera strains from Australia. Satellites just
discovered large markings in Central Australia and there are
some scientists proposing that the marks were made by space aliens.
This could explain why various pygmy drosera live in "colonies".
Sort of reminds me of the movie "LifeForce" from the mid-1980's
or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1950's paranoid version) where
large seed pods make people disappear and replace them with plant
clones.

Carnivorous plants, on the whole, are somewhat disappointing in the
way they set seed. Most CP seeds are heavy and don't go far when
carried by the wind. You'd think a better survival trick, other than
evolving to eat insects, would be to have seeds with little parachutes
(like Dandelions) that float in the air for miles, or even hundreds of
miles. As it is, CP growth tends to be very localized and in clumps.
And their seeds tend to be poor germinators except under absolutely
ideal conditions. I would think a better survival trick would be
for CPs to become epiphytic, grow in trees where there are more
insects, have bulbous roots like seaweed in which to store water for
periods of drought, a vining nature to spread rapidly through
forests, poisonous leaves to keep insects away, and pitchers with
little trap doors that open when an insect triggers a hair and close
after capture (Like utricularia). Nature provides different CPs
each with a different scheme. Why not all CP schemes into one plant?
I wonder if genetic engineering can create a commercially successful
CP plant that farmers can grow as an annual between crops?

---Steve