RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Sticky glandular hairs on Saxifraga candelabrum trap insect prey
Xin-Jian Zhang
More than 150 years after Charles Darwin proposed that saxifrages were a group of plants that practiced carnivory, researchers have meticulously gathered the evidence to confirm he was right.
“Talk about an amazing feeling,” says Doug Soltis at the University of Florida. “To have the opportunity to confirm a prediction of Darwin is both humbling and very exciting.
“I would like to think Darwin would be pleased [and say] ‘I was right – again.’”
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To formally qualify as a carnivorous plant, a species must possess adaptations that enable it to attract, capture and digest its prey and absorb nutrients from it. Perhaps the world’s most renowned carnivorous plant is the Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula ).
In 1875, four years after detailing his theory of natural selection in his book On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote about his fascination with two species in the genus Saxifraga , which were known to catch insects.
The genus has around 450 species and is found in Arctic and alpine regions of the northern hemisphere as well as in the South American Andes.
However, despite attempting several experiments to prove the plants digested the insects, Darwin was unable to substantiate his hunch.
To take up the challenge, Soltis and his colleagues studied specimens of Saxifraga candelabrum from Wufeng Mountain in Yunnan province, China – a different species from those studied by Darwin, but in the same genus.
During field surveys, the botanists observed that the Saxifraga candelabrum plants were capable of trapping small insects, using hairs covered with a sticky secretion. Bigger insects – those more useful to the plants for pollination – weren’t captured by the goo.
Mature plants had an average of more than 70 insects stuck to them, primarily various species of gnat, which suggested a potential carnivorous habit, says team member Hang Sun at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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The team first tested whether the secretions produced by the hair-like structures that trap insects contained digestive enzymes capable of breaking down the prey, and found they did.
Next, by infusing insect prey with a nitrogen isotope, the scientists were able to demonstrate that nutrients from the digested insect had been taken up by the plant.
Finally, genetic studies showed that Saxifraga shares common genes with other carnivorous plants – a sundew ( Drosera spatulata ) and a flycatcher bush ( Roridula gorgonias ) – that control prey attraction, digestion and nutrient uptake.
“Together, these genomic data provide independent evidence that S. candelabrum is a true carnivorous plant,” says Sun.
Soltis expects the team’s research will lead to a re-examination of other species in the genus, including the ones Darwin studied, and the wider Saxifraga family.
“Many members of the family have these hairs, and I would not be surprised if others are also carnivorous,” Soltis says.
Journal Reference:
Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-75288-y
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