Date: Fri, 24 Jul 98 11:38:16 -0400 From: Eric & Ali Hon-Anderson <ericnali@auk.ultranet.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2457$foo@default> Subject: carnivorous behavior in lady slippers
I have been growing Cypripedium reginae (showy lady's slipper) seedlings
for a couple years now and this year have noticed that they've been
picking up a lot of dead gnats. The leaves and stems are thickly covered
with hairs like sundews, but denser and without the visible dew. I've
read that these hairs excrete a substance that causes skin rashes in some
people. The gnats land on the plants, seem to get stuck to the hairs, and
their little corpses remain attached for weeks, if not months. I'm not in
a position to tell whether the plants are deriving any nutrition from the
bugs, but I'm suspicious...
Since these are bog plants, and there's some circumstantial evidence, I
was wondering what people's opinions were about whether this might be
primitive carnivory? As far as I know, that would make them the only
carnivorous orchids.
Eric
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