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How do the underwater traps of corkscrew plants capture prey?
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Lamiales
The lilac-pink flowers of the water mint attract butterflies and beetles.
Corkscrew plants (genus Genlisea), which belong to the Lamiales order, utilize specialized lobster-pot traps to capture their prey.
Unlike active snap traps, these mechanisms function by employing downward-pointing hairs that act as a one-way system. These hairs force small organisms, such as invertebrates, deeper into the trap, preventing them from escaping once they have entered. The plant then digests the captured prey through a process of chemical breakdown, allowing it to absorb essential nutrients like nitrogen in environments where such resources are otherwise scarce.1