# Question about a meat eating plant
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 21, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314 "2007-11-21T13:12:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/1 "2007-11-21T13:12:46Z")
I caught a little of _Micorocosmos_ yesterday.
There’s a scene where a plant eats a bee.
More accurately, it sort of traps it and closes around it. But, around it’s mouth are all these “hairs” with “balls” on the end. It was hard to tell, but it looked like when the balls touched the bee, they released goo onto the bee, which I took to be some sort of acid.
Clearly, I’m not fully informed on any step of the process.
What was the plant? What was in the goo-ball? Etc.
The plant was primarily green, and the goo-ball-hairs were purple.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/2 "2007-11-21T13:22:17Z")
Sounds like a Sundew
> **[Drosera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundew)**
>
> Drosera, which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow. Various species, which vary greatly in size and form, are native to every continent except Antarctica.
> Charles Darwin performed muc...
---
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/3 "2007-11-21T13:29:33Z")
See if [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYGwgzehf6c) is what you are talking about.
---
### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/4 "2007-11-21T13:55:49Z")
Couldn’t see your link **Khadaji**.
It does appear to be a type of Sundew. I didn’t see an exact picture at that Wiki page, but not all was lost. . .I’m now aware of the term “nutrient soup”.
---
### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/5 "2007-11-21T16:05:10Z")
Can carnivorous plants be a part of a vegetarians diet?
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/6 "2007-11-21T16:06:54Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge]
Can carnivorous plants be a part of a vegetarians diet?
[/QUOTE]
Oddly, yes. Vegetarian rennet (used to curdle milk in cheesemaking) can be made from the digestive enzymes of insectivorous plants.
---
### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/7 "2007-11-21T19:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Oddly, yes. Vegetarian rennet (used to curdle milk in cheesemaking) can be made from the digestive enzymes of insectivorous plants.
[/QUOTE]
Cool! Thanks. In another thread, the topic of figs came up and I found this:
[http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7052](http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7052)
---
### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-meat-eating-plant/427314/8 "2007-11-22T01:51:37Z")
You know, I now realize that I will never get tired of watching plants eat insects.