Sunday, August 14, 2016

Conundrum

Question: why does gumweed trap insects if it doesn't plan to eat them?

Sticky gumweed bud, Grindelia stricta, with recent capture and bleached skeletons.

Here in BC, we have 12 carnivorous plants. Among them, the sundews use glue to trap the insects. Gumweed's glue is probably as efficient as the sundews', and more copious, but it has no use for the insects it kills.

Maybe some things just happen that way.


1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:09 pm

    This article might interest you:
    http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/sticky-plant-wears-armor-dead-insects/

    Have a good day!

    ReplyDelete

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