A paper by Pavlovič et al. has caught my eye this week. Feeding on prey increases photosynthetic efficiency in the carnivorous sundew Drosera capensis has moved into Free Access. I’m used to the idea that carnivorous plants trap insects to get Nitrogen, but it is a bit more complicated than that.

Drosera capensis
Drosera capensis

Pavlovič et al set up an experiment to follow the feeding cycle of D. capensis. D. capensis is a sundew, it eats insects by trapping them on sticky leaves, coiling round them and then secreting enzymes to digest the insect. Its home is South Africa, but it’s commonly cultivated around the world now.