Q: Carnivorous plants of the middle East--a sad tale!

A: Alas, the great arid stretches of land in the Middle East are not hospitable to carnivorous plants.

• Utricularia
  minor
• Utricularia
  gibba
• Drosera
  rotundifolia
• Middle East

I define the Middle East as in the traditional sense, i.e., ranging from Egypt in the west to Iran in the east. In this area, there are only seven carnivorous plant species, from two genera:

• Drosera rotundifolia: Israel.
• Utricularia australis: Iran, Iraq, and Yemen.
• Utricularia gibba: Egypt and Israel.
• Utricularia inflexa: Egypt.
• Utricularia minor: Iran.
• Utricularia stellaris: Egypt.
• Utricularia vulgaris: Syria.

Alas, this poor showing of plant carnivory means that many countries apparently have no carnivorous plants in them! These deprived countries are Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates.

• Back to carnivorous plants of the world

Page citations: Naqinezhad, A. et al. 2007; Rice, B.A. 2006a; Schlauer, J. 2002; Taylor, P. 1989.