The jury is still out as to whether or not Ibecella and Proboscidea are carnivorous. It could be considered carnivorous in a round about way in that it can kill small creatures that get 'caught' by a pod. It definitely can hurt but not kill cattle. It is considered a noxious weed. The flower is so stinky that the plants can't be kept in the greenhouse while in bloom.
This message was edited Jul 2, 2012 11:14 AM
The pod is hard and has very sharp serrated edges and the ends like needles.
If it doesn't utilize the prey for nitrogen or some nutrient value I don't think its carnivorous. Or, do they?
Well dead insects are found on the leaves but no digestive juice has been found. What's interesting is that when the pod first opens 1/3 of the seeds immediately fall out. The rest fall out days to weeks later and it probably does get nutrients from decaying animal matter.
The seeds or the plants? I cant see the actual plant getting nutrients from its seed pod but its interesting to find out what it is actually doing.
I don't know .. as I said, there is a debate going on as to whether or not it can be considered carnivorous.
The debate on Stylidium became a bit contentious as well. But seems consensus was that Stylidium is a "proto-carnivorous" plant. The insects become stuck on the stems, rot and get washed down into the root zone. The main thing appears to be that the plant deliberately traps the prey as a food source. The questionable part related to the 'digestive process'.
Stylidium candelabrum
That's a totally new one for me Tropic! The flowers are amazing! Care to swap some seeds?
Those in the photo are wild plants. I've never tried to grow them. Now it's the dry season and they're dormant.
Stylidiums are very cool plants. I am hoping to do some research on them in the near future.
I have a stylidium debile, I will try to remember to post some pictures later. I got some nice high rez pica of the sticky tricomes.
