• The mucous droplets on a round-leaved sundew trap insects.sundew - drosera capillaris image by Pawe...? Burgiel from Fotolia.com
  
  Carnivorous plants prefer living in freshwater bogs with sphagnum moss. This type of habitat is low in nutrients, due to the constant flow of water, but carnivorous plants make up for this by trapping and ingesting insects and other animals to obtain nutrients. In northwest Indiana lies a 15,000-acre park called the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It is home to the state's only true bog, the Pinhook bog. Several types of carnivorous plants live in this sphagnum ecosystem.
  
  

Bladderwort

• The hidden fruit bladderwort (Utricularia geminiscap) is found in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore bog. Bladderworts float in water, and at first glance, the hidden fruit type looks like branches of green, thin seaweed. When it flowers, you can see a yellow blossom above the water's surface. Butterworts have active suction traps; when mosquito larvae and other prey lightly touch one of the trigger hairs of the plant's bulbous traps, the trap door opens and sucks the prey inside.
  
  

Sundew

• A visually-appealing plant, the round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) is also found in the Pinhook bog. The plant's stalks and round leaves, covered with red hairs, project above the water's surface. The top of each hair has a shiny droplet of mucous; insects are attracted to this glistening droplet and land on the leaf. They get stuck to this adhesive trap, and the plant further traps them by slowly folding its leaf over top of them.
  
  

Pitcher Plant

• The purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) has a passive trapping system. Its reddish basal leaves have a deep, tubular shape that fill with rainwater. Its bright color and sweet-smelling nectar attract insects and spiders. The inner portion of the leaves is lined with downward-pointing hairs. Prey fall into the tube and drown in the collected rainwater. Bacteria and other inverterbrates break down the prey, making minerals available to the plant.