Carnivorous plants facts
食肉植物
From specimens that snap shut to individuals that curl up, carnivorous plants are expert meat-eaters. This group of 400 or so species has cleverly adapted to living in poor soil – getting their nutrients from insects and the like instead. We take a look at five of the most fascinating…
从啪的合上“盖子”到靠“触须”卷曲，食肉植物真可谓是肉食专家。(如今，)这个约有400种类之多的家族已经巧妙地适应了生活在贫瘠土壤的现状--(它们)从昆虫或类似的东西中汲取营养。让我们一起去看一下最有趣的5种...
Tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes)
热带猪笼草
Native to: Southeast Asia
源生地：东南亚
How it works:
工作机制：
The pitcher’s vase-like leaf produces and contains a sweet liquid in which the plant drowns its prey. Ants and flies are attracted to the plant’s colourful appearance and victims often make the lethal mistake of landing on its very slippery lip… Once inside, it’s nearly impossible to escape from the trap’s waxy coating. The plant is then able to digest the prey and extract its nutrients.
猪笼草花瓶状的叶子产生并容纳一种甜味的液体用来溺死它的猎物。蚂蚁和苍蝇被猪笼草鲜艳的外表所吸引，以致总是犯下致命的错误--停落在猪笼草光滑的“唇”边...一旦跌落进去，几无逃脱“陷阱”蜡质涂层的可能。然后，植物就能消化猎物吸取其营养。
Eating habits:
饮食习惯：
The pitcher mostly feasts on insects such as ants and flies, but animals as big as rats and frogs have been known to accidentally fall into the pitcher!
猪笼草通常食昆虫类，诸如蚂蚁和苍蝇，但是大些体积的动物如蝙蝠和青蛙偶尔掉进猪笼草的“罐子”里也时有耳闻。
Freaky fact:
奇异之处：
Some insect larvae can thrive inside the pitcher’s trap, while animals such as frogs and bats use the plant’s lid structure to shelter themselves.
一些昆虫幼体能在猪笼草的“陷阱”里茁壮成长，而像青蛙和蝙蝠之类的动物则用猪笼草的盖状结构做“庇护所”。
Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
捕蝇草
Native to: wetlands of east coastal US
源生地：美国东海岸湿地
How it works:
With leaves that snap shut as soon as prey touches their ‘trigger’ hairs, the Venus flytrap is one of the only plants on earth that moves right before your eyes! It’s still not confirmed how the flytrap actually moves, but it may be that it’s caused by an electrical current moving through the plant’s cellular structure.
猎物一触动捕蝇草叶子上的“扳机”纤毛时，叶子就啪地关闭了，捕蝇草是地球上为数不多的在你眼前就能移动的植物之一。捕蝇草具体如何移动还不曾被证实，但是它很可能是由植物细胞结构内产生的一种电流引发。
Eating habits:
饮食习惯：
The flytrap eats a variety of insects and is especially fond of grasshoppers and spiders.
捕蝇草吃各种昆虫，尤其喜爱蝗虫和蜘蛛。
Freaky facts:
奇异之处：
A flytrap leaf can snap shut in under a second! However, each leaf can only snap shut three to four times over the flytrap’s lifetime.
捕蝇草的叶子能在一秒内闭合。然而，终其一生，每只叶子只能闭合三到四次。
Despite its name, only about 5% of the flytrap’s diet actually consists of flies.
虽然名为“捕蝇草”，实际上捕蝇草的食谱里苍蝇只占5％。
Sundew (Drosera)
茅膏菜
Native to: all continents except Antarctica
源生地：世界各大洲(南极洲除外)
How it works:
运作机制：
Often described as ‘living flypaper’, the sundew has tentacle-like leaves which are covered in sticky, glandular hairs. The plant’s tacky secretion gives off a sweet scent, which attracts insects. Once an insect is stuck to its leaf, the sundew will curl inwards to start digesting its prey.
通常被描述为“活的粘蝇纸”，茅膏菜有触角状的叶子，上面覆盖着腺体粘毛。这种植物的黏性分泌物能散发一种吸引昆虫的甜味。昆虫一旦被它的叶子黏住，茅膏菜的触角状叶子就向里卷曲开始消化它的猎物。
Eating habits:
饮食习惯：
The sundew eats all kinds of insects, including flies, spiders and mosquitoes.
茅膏菜吃各种昆虫，包括苍蝇，蜘蛛和蚊子。
Freaky fact:
奇异之处：
Some species of sundew can bend their leaves inwards in just a few seconds after contact with an insect; others can even do so in mere tenths of a second!
一些种类的茅膏菜在昆虫接触后，会在几秒内向里弯曲叶子；而另外一些甚至能在0.1秒内完成。
Cobra lily (Darlingtonia californica)
眼镜蛇百合
Native to: California and Oregon, US
源生地：美国加州和俄勒冈州
How it works:
工作机制：
The cobra lily attracts insects with its scent and the sweet nectar on its ‘tongue’, which is cleverly highlighted by sunlight shining through a transparent area on its upper lid.
眼镜蛇百合用它的气味和它“舌头”上的蜜液来吸引昆虫，而“舌头”部位则透过阳光照射位于其顶部盖上一块透明区域突显出来。
Once an insect has ventured inside the lily’s tube-like leaf structure, the plant’s slippery secretions and downward hairs cause the insect to fall into the lily’s trap, where it’s then slowly digested.
昆虫一旦冒险进入眼镜蛇百合管状的叶子结构里，该植物湿滑的分泌物和向下的粘毛使昆虫落到眼镜蛇百合的陷阱里，并被慢慢消化掉。
Eating habits:
饮食习惯：
The cobra lily enjoys eating insects such as beetles and flies.
眼镜蛇百合享受吃诸如甲壳虫和苍蝇之类的昆虫。
Freaky fact:
奇异之处：
The cobra lily gets its name from its unusually shaped leaves, which resemble the rearing head and forked tongue of a cobra.
眼镜蛇百合因其不寻常形状的叶子--酷似眼镜蛇的后脑和分叉的舌头而得名。
Bladderwort (Utricularia)
狸藻
Native to: all continents except Antarctica
源生地：各大洲(南极洲除外)
How it works:
工作机制：
Mostly found living in lakes and rivers, the bladderwort has a floating stem with tiny sack-like traps growing along it. These traps, or ‘bladders’, have clever door-like valves that open and shut within thousandths of a second when triggered.
绝大多数已发现的(狸藻)生活在河湖里，狸藻有一个漂浮的茎,上面长着一些小袋状的“陷阱”。这些“陷阱”们，或称之为“气囊”都有一个巧妙的阀门，一旦触发，能够在0.001秒内张开和闭合。
A bladderwort’s trap works by pumping water out through its walls, which builds pressure and ‘sets’ the trap like a spring. Long hairs attached to the trap act like levers and, when an insect touches one of them, the bladder’s door will open and suck in a stream of water – and the insect along with it! When the trap is full of water, the door closes again and the plant digests its prey.
狸藻的气囊通过其内壁把水排出，形成压力使“陷阱”气囊像弹簧似的，而“陷阱”上的长毛像肺叶一样，当昆虫触动其中一根，气囊的门就打开吸入一股水流--昆虫也随之而入。当“陷阱”气囊被注满水后，门又会关闭，植物就开始消化它的猎物了。
Eating habits:
饮食习惯：
The bladderwort likes to eat lots of different aquatic species, such as mosquito larvae, water fleas and even young tadpoles.
狸藻喜欢吃许多不同类别的水生物，诸如蚊子幼虫，水蚤甚至小蝌蚪。
Freaky fact:
奇异之处：
With its traps able to snap shut in as little as 1/35th of a second, the bladderwort is 100 times faster than the Venus flytrap at catching its prey!
凭借它的“陷阱”，狸藻能在1/35秒内闭合，其速度是捕蝇草捕食猎物的100倍。