Meat-eating plants.

VENUS FLYTRAP 

SIZE: 12-25 cm(5-10 in.) tall HABITAT: North and South Carolina COMMON PREY: Flies; sometimes frogs and lizards HOW IT LURES: A reddish interior and sweet nectar attract insects when leaves (lobes) are open). HOW IT TRAPS: If a critter such as this gecko brushes against at least two hairs on a lobe, the lobes fold over, trapping the prey between the toothy prongs. HOW IT DIGESTS: Digestive juices inside the lobes drown the prey and slowly dissolve its body tissues. DIGESTION TIME: 8 to 10 days

NEPENTHES PITCHER PLANT 

SIZE: 75-100 cm (30-40 in.) tall; pitcher is about 30 cm (12 in.) tall HABITAT: Southeast Asia COMMON PREY: Insects; sometimes small rodents, frogs, and birds HOW IT LURES: Water collected inside the pitcher's "vessel" and sweet-scented nectar attract prey. HOW IT TRAPS: Prey slides down slippery inner walls into a pool of digestive fluids. HOW IT EATS: Digestive fluids liquefy and break down prey. DIGESTION TIME: 1 to 2 weeks

GREATER BLADDERWORT 

SIZE: 1 m (3 ft) or longer, mostly underwater; traps are 1.5-5 mm (0.06-0.2 in.) long. HABITAT: Ponds, bags, and swamps around the world COMMON PREY: Water fleas, mosquito larvae, microorganisms (e.g., Paramecia), and tadpoles HOW IT LURES: Plant gives off a faint odor that attracts insects. HOW IT TRAPS: When prey brushes against hairs near tiny underwater traps (not shown), trap valves open and water rushes in, dragging in the prey. HOW IT EATS: Digestive juices or bacteria living in the trap liquefy the prey so the plant can absorb its nutrients. DIGESTION TIME: 15 minutes to 2 hours

SUNDEW 

SIZE: 15 cm to 1 m ( 6 in. to 3 ft) tall HABITAT: All continents, except Antarctica COMMON PREY: Ants and other insects HOW IT LURES: A reddish pigmeat and sweet odor lure insects. HOW IT TRAPS: Sticky drops on a leaf's tentacles trap insects like this unlucky ant. Tentacles and leaf curl up around the insect. HOW IT EATS: Plant cells secrete digestive juices and slowly absorb the insect's nutrients. DIGESTION TIME: 4 or 5 days

When Peter D'Amato's plants seem "hungry," he doesn't dip into a bag of fertilizer. The bugs buzzing around his greenhouse will do, thank you. D'Amato is co-owner of California Carnivores, a "Little Shop of Horrors" that grows carnivorous--that is, meat-eating--plants!

About 600 species of these leafy meat eaters grow in the wild. D'Amato cultivates 500 varieties. "It's one of the largest collections in the world," he says proudly. And it's open to the public, as long as you B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bugs).

Among D'Amato's collection, you'll find meter-tall trumpet plants, whose leaves can each trap thousands of flies, wasps, and ants; Venus flytraps with toothy "jaws" that snap shut around their prey; and Nepenthes pitcher plants, which are known to feast on frogs, birds, or even small monkeys!

Sadly, D'Amato's gory greenhouse may be one of the last places you can check out these crafty carnivores. People and businesses across the country are rapidly draining peat bogs--the plants' natural wetland habitats--to build shopping malls, houses, and farms.

People have already wiped out 90 percent of carnivorous plants in their native U.S. habitats, D'Amato says. What's more, adds Marilee Maertz, D'Amato's friend and business partner, poachers remove the plants from the wild illegally.

To help preserve these wild wonders, D'Amato and Maertz get their plants by trading with botanical gardens. They also grow new plants from seeds or leaf cuttings.

HAIR-RAISING HOBBY

The seeds of D'Amato's enthusiasm for carnivores were planted when he was just 10 years old. While walking in a marsh in New Jersey, he and a friend discovered plants coated with struggling insects. I D'Amato brought home samples, but no one--not even his teacher--could identify them.

D'Amato hit the local library. After flipping through books and magazines, he learned that his new pet plants were sundews and pitcher plants, which eat insects. So he planted the insect-eaters in a moist, sunny area in his backyard so he could watch them pig (uh, bug) out. "My parents were very supportive of my hobby," he says.

D'Amato soon discovered that carnivores don't need to feast on creepy critters 24 hours a day. They make most of their own food the same way regular green plants do: They take in water and carbon dioxide and use the sun's energy to make glucose (a type of sugar) in a process called photosynthesis.

But the peat bogs in which the carnivores grow lack some important nutrients, particularly nitrogen. Insects and other animals are loaded with nitrogen. So those plants that adapted ways to digest meaty meals got the nitrogen they needed and survived.

EATING IN STYLE

In the late 1980s, D'Amato's college friend Maertz convinced him to start California Carnivores. Greenhouse visitors can watch a dazzling array of meat-eating plants with active traps, which have moving parts (see Venus flytrap photo). You might also see unwary insects get stuck in other plants' passive traps, like a pitcher plant's pool of digestive juice or the sundew's sticky "glue".

Though the plants don't have teeth that mash insects to bits, their cells do secrete digestive fluids. "You can actually watch the plants digest," D'Amato says. "If you hold a Venus flytrap up to a light, you can see the insects dissolving inside," Maertz explains. "Pinch the trap and digestive juice oozes out." Yum!

The California Carnivores' plants "haven't eaten any people yet," says Maertz, jokingly. "But if they grow big enough, they might!"

RELATED ARTICLE: VENUS FLYTRAP

SIZE: 12-25 CM (5-10 IN.) tall HABITAT: North and South Carolina COMMON PREY: Flies; sometimes frogs and lizards HOW IT LURES: A reddish interior and sweet nectar attract insects when leaves (lobes) are open. HOW IT TRAPS: If a critter such as this gecko brushes against at least two hairs on a lobe, the lobes fold over, trapping the prey between the toothy prongs. HOW IT DIGESTS: Digestive juices inside the lobes drown the prey and slowly dissolve its body tissues. DIGESTION TIME: 8 TO 10 days