TUMKUR: Tumkur-based Wildlife Aware Nature Club (WANC) claimed to have discovered two more carnivorous plants in Devararyanadurga reserve forests, 14 km away from here. They are 'drasera indica' and 'utricularia caerulea.' Other such plants, including 'drasera burmanii' and 'utricularia aurea', already exist in the region.
Carnivorous plants are mainly identified with the famous Siddharabetta hills near Koratagere which is also known for the medicinal plants since ancient times. Since these plants usually make the marshy land at the foot of the hillocks and mountains their habitat, they suffer from a lack of nitrogenous nutrients and hence derive some or most of their nutrients (but not energy) from trapping and consuming insects or protozoans, said WANC president B V Gundappa.They compensate the deficiency of nitrogen by sucking the nutrients from the insects, including grasshoppers and ants, he added.
It is a pleasant surprise that these plants still exist in the forests as they have almost vanished from the small hillocks of the rural areas owing to deforestation, pollution, grazing and related vagaries, he said.
He urged the Forest Department to safeguard the carnivorous plant species which were on the verge of extinction in Tumkur district, as miscreants destroy them out of ignorance.
The plants fetch Rs1,000 to Rs1,500 as the biology departments in colleges and universities buy them for specimens, and this should be checked at any cost, he said.