A small alpine plant, *Saxifraga candelabrum*, has been confirmed to be insect-eating, fulfilling a prediction made by Charles Darwin in 1875. The plant's leaves, petals, and stems are covered in tiny, sticky hairs that produce a sweet glue.
This glue lures and traps midges, which the plant then digests using an enzyme. The nitrogen derived from the insects' remains is absorbed by the plant, a process essential for its survival in the nutrient-poor soils of the Hengduan mountains in south-west China.
The study also found that *Saxifraga candelabrum* possesses genes related to those found in other carnivorous plants. These findings, published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, suggest that other sticky-haired plants may also employ similar insect-trapping and feeding mechanisms.