A new review on carnivorous plants which suggests that a number of commonplace, garden-variety plants like petunias and potatoes deserve to be classified as meat-eaters just like the Venus flytrap and pitcher plants.

Petunias and potatoes have sticky hairs that trap insects, and some species of campion have the common name of ‘catchfly’ for the same reason. They don’t immediately digest their prey, but the animals they ensnare eventually breakdown in the surrounding soil, providing nutrients which can be absorbed through the roots.

“Many commonly grown plants may turn out to be cryptic carnivores, at least by absorbing through their roots the breakdown products of the animals that they ensnare,” said Chase.

“We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think,” said botanist Mark Chase, Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England.

From UK Telegraph:

It is thought that the technique was developed in the wild in order to supplement the nutrients in poor quality soil – but even domestic varieties grown in your vegetable patch retain the ability. The killer plants have been identified as among a host of species that are thought to have been overlooked by botanists and explorers searching the world’s remotest regions for carnivorous species.

The number of carnivorous plants is thought to have been underestimated by up to 50 per cent and many of them have until now been regarded as among the most benign of plants.

A new review on carnivorous plants which suggests that a number of commonplace