Carnivorous (or Insectivorous,)Plants, plants that capture insects for use as food. They grow chiefly in sandy or swampy areas where the soil lacks nitrogen and phosphorus, which the plants obtain from the insects they capture. The plants trap their victims in a variety of ways. The pitcher plant, for example, drowns its victims in a sticky fluid held in its cupped leaves, while the Venus's flytrap traps its victim between two hinged leaves.