Herself's Houseplants

Our first plant like life shows up about 3,500 million years ago as cyanobacteria. The blue-green bacteria floats in the vast oceans covering the plant and begins to convert sunlight into food. As it does this it releases oxygen into the atmosphere. Much of the life that followed would not have come to be without that oxygen.

The cyanobacteria then forms colonies called stromatolites. These colonies form because the bacteria is sticky and as it gets bounced around the ocean surface it meets and sticks to other cyanobacteria. Each cell tries to be the one on top closest to the sunlight so the stromatolites are mushroomed shaped. These can still be found in warm, shallow ocean areas today.

1,500 million years ago cells begin to capture other cells. In time the captured cells differentiate into nucleus, organelles and chloroplasts. The chloroplasts are what convert sunlight into energy for these cells. All the green parts of your plant have cells containing chloroplasts.

There is but one continent now and most of the planet is ocean.

Critters evolve and grow, but plant life is limited to cyanobacteria until about 450 million years ago in the Ordovician period when liverwort makes its appearance.

Liverwort is a low growing plant with dark green ribbon like leaves. It floats to the edges of the oceans and tentatively reaches onto land. It doesn’t completely leave the water, it has no way to carry water to various parts of the plant so it remains on the ocean’s edges.

Mosses begin to appear right behind the liverwort. They too need to remain in the water as they have no vascular system. But both liverwort and mosses photosynthesize their food. The era starts out warm but descends into an ice age.

Around 430 million years ago in the Silurian period the ice melts, the world warms and the continents continue to break up and drift apart. Plants are now finding ways to support themselves upright outside of the water. They still live at the edges of the water but they begin to develop tubes to carry water from their bases to their tops. Very slowly the plants begin to venture onto land. Cooksonia is about 4″ tall, has no leaves and no roots but we believe it to be the first plant to venture out of the ocean onto land. The cooksonia would not survive the next era.

Club moss appears, it is about 10″ and it and other plants of this time reproduce by spores. Leaves are no more than scales, much like on tillandsia today. The few plants on earth are clustered at the edges of the ocean. Lichen is here and it is converting rocks to soil.

415 million years or so back in the Devonian period our first leafed plants appear. While they are true leaves, the veins are a random collection with no real form to them. There is a dramatic drop in CO2 in the atmosphere which we believe is due to the plant life in this time. Horsetail ( rush ) is common. Ferns appear and some of them bear seeds rather than spores. Plants get larger, stems get stronger and forests begin to emerge. Trees are often around 60′. Our first insects show up now. Most import real soil is appearing across the planet. It also draws down CO2. As the soil spreads so do our forests. But alas, global cooling comes and kills off most of our plant life.

Next comes the Carboniferous period around 350 million years back, global warming takes over and while the poles are still covered in ice, most of the planet is warm. Continents are sliding together into one again. Huge tropical forests cover the land. They grew so fast they used up huge amounts of CO2 and bumped the oxygen up to 35%. ( it’s only 21% today ) Club mosses form trees 160′ tall. The world is warm, humid and shady. Insects are huge too. Dragon flies have 26″ wingspans and some centipedes are 6′ long. For the first time the planet is no longer silent.

Spores begin to differentiate into different sexes. Seeds are retained in the plants for germination. Seed ferns vanish during this time. And again the planet begins to cool.

The Permian period starts about 290 million years ago. We have one continent, seas are shallow, swamps are giving way to desert and our first plant eating critters appear. As things cool diversity declines. Only plants that can handle drier, cooler climates survive.

Triassic period begins with little life. The planet is harsh, cold and most everything has gone extinct. But we still have some ferns, small trees remain, cycads, ginkoes, tree ferns, horse tails are all on the planet at this time. Seed bearing plants are doing better then the spore bearers, flowering plants appear. This is the time of the dinosaurs.

The planet warms, life expands and diversifies including insects and small mammals. The Jursassic period is upon us. More warming occurs, the polar caps melt and our big continent begins to break up. Tropical plants do well, as do temperate forests. Bald cypress make their appearance. Dinosaurs give way to mammals and the planet again cools. Ice caps form again and much of the life on the planet dies off.

The Creaceous period has continents sliding apart and climates begin to localize. Magnolia trees and other early flowering plants spread forth. In a very short time 90% of plants will be flowering. Leaves change from haphazard veins to a more regular vein pattern, a huge break through for plants. Plants and insects begin their symbiotic relationship in this time.

But again the planet cools, wiping out most life. A large meteor hits Mexico further stressing the planets life. Then world is again warming. Palms, laurels, vines and citrus plants are now with us and doing well. But the warmth is temporary as we slide yet again into a cold spell. Plains and prairies appear and with them grasses make their stage entrance.

At about 3 million years back human type creatures appear on the planet. Cooling continues followed by more global warming. 250,000 years back neaderthals show up, followed by homosapiens 180,000 years ago. Herbaceous flowering plants appear about 30,000 years ago. They are better adapted to handle the changing seasons. The last ice age retreats about 10,000 years ago. The first farms show up not long after at about 6500 years ago.

See also:
I did a much more indepth look at plant evolution on Herself’s Houston Garden in Sept. of 2008 if you’d like more indepth explaination

I love carnivorous plants. There is something cool about a meat loving plant, being an omnivore myself. The eight known species of Sarracenia are native to the US and can be found in the wild through out the south east and as far west as east Texas in bogs and swamps.

Carnivorous plants all love humidity and most want lots of light. You’ll find pitcher plants don’t need as much humidity as other carnivorous plants so they are an excellent choice for a house plant. You do need to give them ample light. The most likely cause of troubles with pitcher plants grown indoors is too little light.

If you live somewhere very sunny like I do in Houston, you might want to filter the light a bit. Use the color of your plant as a guide. If they start to look pale or bleached, reduce the light. If they are not developing the reds in ones that have red, or if they are dark green, give them more light.

I went to visit a local protected wild patch of carnivorous plants a couple of weeks ago. The dirt they grow in is mostly sand but not all, some regular soil was mixed into it. It was dry at the time I visited but it is normally quite damp there.

I’ve successfully grown them in sphagnum moss; dirt; and a mix of half dirt half sand. I am now trying some in peat moss. Any combination of sphagnum, peat, sand and unfertilized soil will do.

I water mine with tap water and rain water when available. Bottled water is just someone else’s tap water don’t bother with it. Distilled water is too pure to use for plants.

You never ever fertilize carnivorous plants. They get what they need from the insects they consume.

They should not ever be given meat, hamburger etc. It is bugs they, need not cows. If they wanted to eat cows they would have evolved to be much larger plants. If you must feed your plant bugs, smaller is better.

If your plants are growing indoors you should add a little bit of water to the pitchers. Just a little, they don’t need much.

Many pitcher plants are not large and make excellent additions to dish gardens. They do flower indoors, flowers are unusual, and grow on long stems and hang down. All the flowers I’ve had so far have been red, green or a combination of those two colors.

In the wild the flowers appear early spring followed by pitchers. The flowers need the bugs to pollinate themselves so no point killing them for food until the pollination is accomplished. Plants go dormant in the cold weather.

It is not uncommon when the plants are outside to find tiny toads or frogs living in the pitchers.

Less than 3% of the native habitats of carnivorous plants are left. Which means you must be very careful buying them to be sure they are not wild plants that have been harvested. It also means to save them we want lots of people growing them.

The earliest mentions of these plants appear mid 1500s. It wasn’t until 1920 that we knew for sure the pitcher plants were eating the insects they caught.

There are eight species of Sarracenia. They are long lived perennials, leaves are arranged in rosettes. Depending on the plant type leaves may be 4″ long to 48″.

The traps attract prey with bright colors and using scent glands that are on the cover and around the upper edge of the pitcher. Under the hood are hairs angled in to help coax prey inside. The upper corner of the pitcher and bottom of lid often have translucent areas which act like stained glass. Insects see this area, think it is a way out and move towards it.

Beneath this area is a slippery area, covered with waxy cells that do not allow the prey to gain a foothold and escape.

Lastly is the digestive area. This contains water and enzymes to break down the insect into materials usable by the plant. This area contains digestive glands and hairs that help to keep the insect trapped.

Some mosquito larvae and some moth larvae are able to live in this fluid and feed off the dead insects. The adult Exyra moths are able to scale the trap walls and go from pitcher to pitcher laying one egg per trap. The moth larvae eat their way out of the trap, killing it.

You can fertilize them but only use the fertilizer at one tenth the normal dose and spray it on the leaves only.  Do this no more than monthly.

Aphids, mealy bugs, scale and thrips can all be a problem for fly traps.  Orthene or some other systematic insecticide is best.  Follow the directions on the label.  Do not use soap based insecticides.

Black spot and other fungus can also be trouble.  Captan is the favorite fungicide right now. You should be able to find it at any plant supply store.

See also:
What is that stuff in the pitcher of your pitcher plant?
Slime used to trap insects
Carnivorous plant eats mouse