Newly discovered carnivorous plant is as deceptive as it is deadly

Newly discovered carnivorous plant is as deceptive as it is deadly

Charles Darwin predicted in 1875 that some members of the Saxifraga genus could be carnivorous—now scientists have finally proven him right

A small, yellow-flowered plant that grows in the mountainous forests of China may not look intimidating. But beneath its bright exterior, Saxifraga candelabrum is hiding a bloodthirsty secret.

This plant species is carnivorous , which means it can attract, trap and digest insect prey and absorb their nutrients. Through a lengthy process of observation, genetic analysis and a fruit fly feast, scientists “left no stones unturned” to prove the plant has a hidden taste for flesh, says Mark Chase , a botanist at England’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who was not involved in the research.

“Most papers cover only one or two aspects of the carnivorous syndrome, but this study does it all, from observations in the field to isotope work and genomics in the lab,” Chase says.

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The discovery supports a 150-year-old hypothesis from the father of evolutionary biology: Charles Darwin predicted in 1875 that some members of the Saxifraga genus could be carnivorous. Though the species he predicted are distinct from S. candelabrum, they share microscopic hairs on their surface. Darwin based his prediction on those hairs, S. candelabrum uses them to trap insects.

Most other carnivorous plants have “highly specialized trapping structures,” says Hang Sun , lead author of the paper and a botanist at the Kunming Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This species’ tiny, sticky traps offer a new example of how carnivorous plants might function.