Octopus Plant-Catching Mosquitoes

[M Farooq]

I happened to see an interesting plant in someone's office today. It was kept there to catch little insects. It is called an octopus plant (can grow it in Pakistan or not?). It is basically an insect eating plant like the Venus fly trap and the pitcher plants. From the health of the plant, I can guess that it will easily survive indoor and our environment.

Picture is from the web.

[Farhan Ahmed]

procurement can be an issue, how is it propagated?

[mikhurram]

interesting ! It may prove to be a novel solution to curb dengue epidemic.

Main issue i foresee would be it's survival in plain areas during winter months of December, January & February. Winters in Karachi shouldn't be a problem. I was informed by Kaleem Sahib that 'Venus Fly Trap' plant is available in Islamabad around Rs 4000.

[M Farooq]

I think it grows from seeds but that person had purchased the plant from a plant shop. Its scientific name is Drosera anglica.

Venus fly trap seems to be too expensive given the size of the plant. Both plants are wetland plants and require moist soil and high humidity all the time. I was surprised to see that the octopus plant was doing very well in an office environment.

[Tahir Khan]

The above plant is commonly called 'Sundew' plant. These plants are novelties but very hard to care for as they need humidity to live. I was quite interested in carnivorous plants in the past but didn't dare to acquire them by any means as they are not easy to care for.
They also need different medium to grow such as sphagnum moss.

All carnivorous plants including Venus flytrap and pitcher plant can be propagated through seeds and division of mature plants

Pitcher plant was available in one of Islamabad's nursery last year for 7000 rupee