In boggy, acid soils, decay takes place quite slowly. Consequently, little nitrogen is available to the roots of plants growing there. Certain plants thrive by capturing insects and other small creatures and digesting them to acquire the nitrogen and other elements that they need. A very well-known example is the Venus’ Flytrap that is native to the coastal areas of the Carolinas.
The inside of the double-lobed, hinged leaves of the Venus’ Flytrap is red to attract insects. Near the central vein of each leaf are trigger hairs that signal the leaf to close when touched. The leaf can close on an unsuspecting insect in less than a second! Bristles along the leaf edges interlock, trapping the unlucky victim. The leaf remains closed with its meal for about a week while antibacterial substances prevent putrification, and enzymes dissolve all but the external skeleton of the insect. When this process is finished, the leaf reopens in readiness for another meal.
Another native group of plants closely related to the Venus’ Flytrap is the Sundews. Sundews are small, with reddish leaves arranged in a basal roseate. The leaves are equipped with glandular hairs that exude glittering drops of clear, sweet, sticky fluid. Insects, attracted by an appetizing odor plus the sweetness of the droplets, quickly become stuck among the hairs. Neighboring hairs are triggered to bend like tentacles toward the struggling insect, further binding it and eventually suffocating it. The leaves roll up and secrete protein-digesting enzymes, which cause the release of nitrogen and other vital elements that are then absorbed by the leaves.
Another bog-loving, carnivorous plant is the Pitcher Plant. These are mostly found in the southeastern United States and have hoods over the open mouth of their upright hollow leaves. Pitcher Plants hold small pools of water in their modified hollow leaves or “pitchers.” Insects are attracted to the pitchers, often by the odor of decay within, and are forced into the water by a lining of stiff, downward-pointing hairs. Once they are in the water a narcotic kills them, and bacteria begin to decompose them, and enzymes convert their protein into usable nitrogen. The larvae of certain flies and mosquitoes have adapted to live unharmed in the water of the Pitcher Plants, feeding on the insects trapped there. Bladderworts and Butterworts comprise another group of carnivorous plants. Bladderworts are found throughout North America and are mostly aquatic. The plume-like leaves are modified with small bladder-like traps that catch various forms of microscopic aquatic animal life. Each little bladder has a trap door triggered by sensitive hairs. When tiny water animals touch the hairs, the door opens and the creatures are sucked in to be digested. Butterworts of the southeastern coastal plain are herbs of moist soil with a roseate of greasy leaves. Small insects alighting on a Butterwort leaf are trapped by its sticky yellowish surface. After several insects have been trapped, the leaf edges roll inward, engulfing the insects and secreting enzymes that extract nitrogen and other vital elements from the accumulated victims. Then the leaf reopens.
Like these insect-trapping plants, Satan sets traps and snares to catch unwary souls and plunge them into a life of sin. “For among my people are found wicked [men]: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.” Jeremiah 5:26. “Satan is a cunning worker, and he will bring in subtle fallacies to darken and confuse the mind and root out the doctrines of salvation. Those who do not accept the Word of God just as it reads, will be snared in his trap.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 52. But we have the following hope: “If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32. Praise God!