The Carnivorous Plant

Even plants, it can eat and shed blood of its victim, it's a great sign for the greatness of the creator be He exalted and blessed…

 

The Carnivorous Plant is perfectly designed to perform the killing task,

 Glory to Allah!!!!!

It is really a strange plant that eats insects, frogs, small birds and even mice but what is the mechanism? 

The trapping mechanism

Just beneath the rim, on the inside, are glands that produce the nectar that attracts victim. Beneath the glands, there is a zone where the inner wall of the pitcher is smooth and covered in wax. The wax is comprised of small, loosely attached crystals. Insects are normally very good at being able to maintain their grip even on very smooth surfaces, but when they walk on the pitcher's wax, the wax crystals slough off and fall - with the prey - into the fluid below. The same waxy area prevents them being able to climb out again.

Scientists say that pitcher plants are far more cunning than at first it seems.

Observations in the wild showed that the rim of the pitcher was important. When it was dry, insects could walk on it perfectly well - but when it was wet after rain they slid off it into the trap. The researches knew this was unusual - most plant surfaces repel water, whereas the pitcher rims seemed unusually wet. They concluded it must have an interesting structure.

 

Can the blind nature design such wonderful structure?

Also scientists had found that when a dry rim had water dropped onto it, it rapidly spread out over the surface. Investigations showed that this spreading was enhanced by the outer tissue being covered in microscopically small ridges. The thin film of water prevented insects getting a grip and they slid off into the trap. The number of insects caught when the rim was wet was three times the number caught when it was dry; suggesting this and not the waxy layer below is actually the main trapping mechanism. 

There was plenty more to discover. Further observations showed that the rim became wet at times even when it had not been raining. Constant monitoring revealed a daily cycle - they were dry for much of the day and caught little, but became wet from early evening to morning and caught a lot more. It was found that the nectar the pitchers produced was hygroscopic - this means it can absorb moisture from the air. Thus thinned, it then spreads out over the rim. This is a new function for nectar not observed yet in other plants.

It is possible that the plants can adjust how wet their lips become by adjusting the amount of nectar they produce. Another newly discovered fact concerns the fluid inside the pitcher.

It is not just water. If a fly is dropped into water it can usually rapidly escape and fly away. But insects seem unable to escape from pitcher fluid. Observations and analysis showed this had nothing to do with surface tension or with any rapid kind of chemical attack. They also showed that only moving insects became wetted and drowned. Analysis showed that the fluid is what is called "viscoelastic". Movement within the fluid causes it to become stretchy and stringy. An insect's panicky movements cause the fluid to thicken so it is hard to swim. If it tries to lift a leg out of the fluid, it forms an elastic strand that is hard to break and pulls the leg back into the fluid. The faster the insect moves, the greater this effect. The only way it could escape would be to move more slowly, but they usually panic and thrash about. So, pitchers are far from a passive trap - they have sophisticated mechanisms for both catching prey and keeping them trapped once caught.

Hence, we can conclude that this kind of plants has a brain also it possess observations machines and all needed liquids to perform its job.

Who is the creator? Coincidence or nature!!!!!!!!!! Allah almighty says: (This is the creation of Allah. So show me that which those (whom you worship) besides Him have created. Nay, the Zâlimûn (polytheists, wrongdoers and those who do not believe in the Oneness of Allah) are in plain error.)(Sûrat Luqmân-verse11).

To watch a video for that plant and also for other species click the following links:

·                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ng9MhaQ7ms&feature=related

·                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j3nJqe2uJM&NR=1

·                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CQ9rfIkpAE&feature=related

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By: Abduldaem Al-Kaheel

www.kaheel7.com/eng

 

References:

1. http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/nepenthes-alata--pitcher-plant-insect-eating/nepenthes_alatapd.aspx

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcher_plant

3. Encarta, the American encyclopedia.