The common flower is the first carnivorous plant for 20 years

There is a new carnivorous flower in the plant kingdom.

The carnivorous cutie is the first of its kind identified in 20 years, despite the white flower’s prevalence throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Sean Graham, a botanist at the University of British Columbia, told NPR: “We didn’t know he was a carnivore.

The flower, called the False Western Asphodel, was first documented in 1879, but scientists had no idea the plant was consuming meat until now.

“This was not found in an exotic tropical location, but really right on our doorstep in Vancouver,” Graham added. “You could literally walk out of Vancouver to this field site.”

The researchers were working on an independent study when they noticed the asphodel, western triantha, exhibited a genetic deletion observed in other carnivorous plants. Scientists also noted that the flower had characteristics that could be used to trap food.

“And then they have these sticky rods,” said Graham, whose study on the western white asphodel was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “So, you know, it was kind of like, hmm, I wonder if that could be a sign that this could be carnivorous.”

There are less than 1,000 known species of carnivorous plants, which often appear in sunny, humid climates with poor soil in nutrients – hence their evolution towards meat consumption.

To prove that flowers get their nutrients from insects, researchers followed the Triantha the plant’s uptake of nitrogen-15 isotopes that began in laboratory fruit flies, which scientists had placed on the sticky stem of the plant.

The results showed that half of the nitrogen composition of the plant after feeding came from flies.

They also found that tiny hairs on the stem produce a digestive enzyme found in other carnivorous plants. This is the first known example of such a plant using its stem to trap and consume insects.

Graham said: “I suspect there might be more carnivorous plants than we think.”