Mucilage-tipped bracts and immature flower of Passiflora foetida, a protocarnivorous plant.
A protocarnivorous plant (sometimes also paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous, or borderline carnivore), according to some definitions, traps and kills insects or other animals but lacks the ability to either directly digest or absorb nutrients from its prey like a carnivorous plant. The morphological adaptations such as sticky trichomes or pitfall traps of protocarnivorous plants parallel the trap structures of confirmed carnivorous plants.
Some authors prefer the term "protocarnivorous" because it implies that these plants are on the evolutionary path to true carnivory, whereas others oppose the term for the same reason. The same problem arises with "subcarnivorous". Donald Schnell, author of the book Carnivorous Plants of the United States and Canada, prefers the term "paracarnivorous" for a less rigid definition of carnivory that can include many of the possible carnivorous plants.[1]
The demarcation between carnivorous and protocarnivorous is blurred by the lack of a strict definition of botanical carnivory and ambiguous academic literature on the subject. Many examples of protocarnivorous plants exist, some of which are counted among the ranks of true carnivorous plants as a matter of historical preference. Further research into these plants' carnivorous adaptations may reveal that a few protocarnivorous plants do meet the more rigid definition of a carnivorous plant.
^Schnell, 2002
and 28 Related for: Protocarnivorous plant information
A protocarnivorousplant (sometimes also paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous, or borderline carnivore), according to some definitions, traps and kills insects...
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3 species per year since the year 2000. Additionally, over 300 protocarnivorousplant species in several genera show some but not all of these characteristics...
perennial in the flowering plant family Geraniaceae. It is thought to be a protocarnivorousplant. This herbaceous perennial plant is native to the Northwestern...
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animal matter that accumulates within them, making them a form of protocarnivorousplant. Contemporary attempts to replicate Darwin's experiments on the...
species of carnivorous plants are found in the Lamiales, in the families Lentibulariaceae and Byblidaceae. Protocarnivorousplant species have also been...
uncertain, and it is considered a protocarnivorousplant. Leaves Flower close-up Pollen grains Fruits Fruiting plant Seeds Passiflora foetida is a larval...
a perennial plant with grass-like leaves and is easily cultivated. It has been considered to be a carnivorous or protocarnivorousplant because it possesses...
sepals and other parts of the plant prompted Charles Darwin to suggest that this species might be a protocarnivorousplant, but little, if any, research...
squamaria is widespread in Europe. The common toothwort is a protocarnivorousplant. Most of the plant consists of a branched whitish underground stem closely...
Roridula dentata (also called the northern dewstick) is a protocarnivorousplant native to the Western Cape province of South Africa. It can be found only...
and -digesting glands of these carnivorous plants evolved. Balsams are not known to be protocarnivorousplants, however. In 2011–2013, the United States...
also a protocarnivorousplant. The sticky stems trap small insects and enzymes break them down for nitrogen. Though not a typical hummingbird plant, the...
killed are rarely major pests, this passion flower seems to be a protocarnivorousplant. Banana passion flower or "banana poka" (P. tarminiana), originally...
strict definitions of plant carnivory, and could alternatively be characterised as merely paracarnivorous or protocarnivorous. This genus contains a...
saxifrage (S. tridactylites) and Pyrenean saxifrage (S. umbrosa) to be protocarnivorousplants, and conducted some experiments whose results supported his observations...
fungus Carnivorous plantProtocarnivorousplant Doyle, Jeff; Soltis, Douglas E.; Soltis, Pamela S. (1998). Molecular systematics of plants II: DNA sequencing...
"Evidence of Protocarnivorous Capabilities in Geranium viscosissimum and Potentilla arguta and Other Sticky Plants". International Journal of Plant Sciences...
Stanislav (2009). "Hierarchical organisation of the trap in the protocarnivorousplant Roridula gorgonias (Roridulaceae)". Journal of Experimental Biology...
which allow the plant to form tight clumps. Drymocallis arguta is thought to be a protocarnivorousplant. In a 1999 experiment, several plants in the Pacific...
plant does not have digestive enzymes and does not absorb nutrients from the insects.[citation needed] The plant can be considered protocarnivorous,...
nutrients from the bug's droppings. It is therefore considered a protocarnivorousplant. It is called Gorgons dewstick, fly bush or fly catcher bush in...
shrubby plants previously included in this genus are now separated in the genus Dasiphora, while some distinctive and apparently protocarnivorous herbaceous...
in texture. Insects become trapped in the sticky patches on this protocarnivorousplant, but it does not obtain any nutrients from them. The lance-shaped...
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