Are there plants which 'eat' animals? Yes, there are. Intermittent Lake Cerknica is home to three species of carnivorous plants: intermediate bladderwort, bladderwort and oblong-leaved sundew.
Visitors are instantly charmed by wet meadows rich with endangered and protected plants. Wild gladioli and orchids (early marsh orchid, broad-leaved marsh orchid, marsh orchid and marsh helleborine) thrive here in such numbers that one may doubt they are endangered.
Among the most obvious species with colourful flowers found in the area of Lake Cerknica, there are also tens of grass-like endangered species. They may not be eye-catching, but many of them form typical communities and are, therefore, of great importance for the intermittent lake's ecosystem.
Typical inhabitants of Lake Cerknica, and a truly special group of the flora world, are surely the amphibian plants. They have adapted to the draining of the lake to an extent where they can thrive in water as well as on land. The most common, and at the same time most visible, among them are greater water parsnip, water smartweed, great yellowcress, fen ragwort, mare's tail, flowering rush and great spearwort. They are all endangered in Slovenia.
The rich flora, dependent on the moist and marshy soil, is not only feast for the eye; it also enables life to diverse fauna and, let's not forget, to the local people.
| Number of plant species included on the Red List of threatened species in Slovenia: | 55 |
| Number of orchids on the Cerknica plain: | 7 |
| Number of carnivorous plants at Lake Cerknica: | 3 |
| Number of plant species which cannot thrive elsewhere in Slovenia: | 2 |