Page "Genlisea aurea" Paragraph 7

G. aurea, like all Genlisea species, is a carnivorous plant that attracts, traps, kills, and digests prey, which are typically protozoans.

Evidence of this behavior had been postulated ever since Charles Darwin's time and has mostly relied on circumstantial findings of the occasional dead aquatic invertebrate in the utricle ( digestion chamber ).

In 1975, however, British botanist Yolande Heslop-Harrison discovered digestive enzyme activity in G. africana.

Later, in 1998, Wilhelm Barthlott and his colleagues concluded through experimentation that Genlisea attracts prey chemotactically, traps them in the corkscrew " lobster pot " trap, digests them with enzymes produced by the plant, and then absorbs the nutrients.

This study represented the first conclusive evidence that G. aurea was carnivorous.