• Texas swamps are a breeding ground for carnivorous plants.swamp landscape image by Caroline Henri from Fotolia.com
  
  Carnivorous plants live in nutrient-poor wetlands making a steady food source a daily fight for survival. Texas' southeastern swamps are home to numerous carnivorous plants, some of the most common of which include the sundew, bladderwort, pitcher plant and butterwort and Venus flytrap. A marvel of nature's engineering, these carnivorous plants help control Texas' mosquito and insect population in an eco-friendly manner.
  
  

Venus Flytrap

• The most famous and ominous looking plant, the Venus flytrap, captures its prey the fastest of all carnivorous plants. Its ingenious design has two hinged leaves about 2 inches long with teeth-like hairs along the edge. The inside of the plant has tiny hairs, and when an insect touches two hairs simultaneously, the leaves snap shut trapping the helpless prey. The plant secretes strong digestive juices that consume the insect within several days.
  
  

Sundew

• There are 152 species of sundew worldwide. The sundew works in a similar but slower manner to the Venus flytrap. Its flat green leaves, less than 2 inches wide, attract insects with their scent and bright colors.Then the sundew traps the insect with tentacles sticky with gel that slowly roll up around the prey. The plant excretes enzymes that digest an insect in about four days. The sundew's plant colors are bright yellow, or red or pink.
  
  

Bladderwort

• The bladderwort is the most common carnivorous plant in the world. Small and delicate in appearance, it lives in the water and has an oval-shaped bladder or suction bulb, less than 1 inch in size, on the leaves. When a small insect walks across the bladder, the motion-sensitive part instantly expands and sucks in the insect with the water. A bladderwort has a long, thin stem with a small yellow flower on top to help attract insects.
  
  

Butterwort

• The bright-yellow color of the leaves gives the butterwort its lovely, yet deadly look and its name. Related to the bladderwort, it traps prey by oozing a glossy, tacky gel that resembles water or nectar. Once an insect is caught by the butterwort's gel and tiny hairs, the leaf curls about halfway as it digests the prey then unfurls flat to its normal size of 2 inches.
  
  

Pitcher Plant

• The pitcher plant's funnel-shaped leaves grow up to 18 inches and are red and green in color. The leaves' sweet aroma attracts insects to their death. Minuscule hairs line the inside of a tube that points downward. When prey lands on the leaf, it follows the nectar's scent inside, but the hairs keep it from climbing back out. The insect can only go father inside the tube until it reaches the bottom, where digestive fluids consume it.