BEIJING Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists have found a plant in Brazil using leaves to capture the tiny worms in the soil, according to Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S.
The plant, named Philcoxia, was found in the tropical grassland of Brazil, where the biodiversity is well conserved.
As the scientists searching for the answer of why the plant grows the leaves underground, they found the 1.5 millimeters-wide leaves can trap the worms and produce a digestive enzyme to help its roots to absorb the nutrition.
Although it is not the first meat-eating plant to be discovered, the finding has still "broaden up our perception about plants," according to researcher Rafael Silva Oliveira, a plant ecologist at the State University of Campinas in Brazil.
It suggests that carnivorous plants "may have evolved independently more times in plants than previously thought," he added