Carnivorous Plumbago? (ಠ▃ಠ❀)
Channel: zuditaka
Date: 13/03/2015

Here's one of my pretty blue Plumbago auriculata specimens. Nice blue colour, and petals on the ground, they are a little like poor man's jacarandas, in a way. Still, they are very pretty. From South Africa.

Apparently they are possibly on their way to becoming insectivorous, if you subscribe to the evolutionary theory. They have been described as paracarnivorous, or protocarnivorous. That's supposed to mean that they haven't yet developed a means of fully digesting their prey. (The flower calyx has glandular trichomes--or "hairs"--which secrete a sticky mucilage that is capable of trapping and killing insects.) I suppose it's possible they might catch insects for another reason--like to attract another pollinator, or bird, or animal, or something. I am no evolutionary biologist. I do notice, though, that Passiflora and Acacia both have syrupy nectaries that are used to attract (and reward!) ants--for whatever reason; be it for pollination or defence of some sort.

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