The killer tree is also afraid of poison

The carnivorous plants swallow all the insects they catch, but their existence can be threatened if the prey has toxins in the body.

Warm lid tree Sarracenia leucophylla . Photo: goldendelighthoney.com .

Element Cadmium (Cd) is a relatively rare transition metal. It is soft (can be cut with a knife), has a bluish white color and is relatively toxic. Cadmium exists in zinc ores and is used by humans to make many types of batteries. Newscientist said, when people burn fossil fuels and waste, cadmium is released into the environment and accumulates in many species, including insects.

According to New Zealand, to find out if cadmium can harm plants, Iain Green and Christopher Moody - two scientists at Bournemouth University in the UK - put cadmium into European green fly bodies since they are still in the form of larval. They then threw flies into the pitcher plants Sarracenia leucophylla , a plant that catches insects with leaves.

Inside the weapon catch prey of Sarracenia leucophylla . Photo: wholeo.net.

After the plants digest flies and absorb cadmium, the two researchers found that their shoots were getting smaller with time. That phenomenon shows that it is very likely that toxins hinder plant photosynthesis. Green said insects in the natural environment contain dozens of times higher levels of toxins than the "experimented" green flies in the experiment.