Venus Flytrap
Venus flytrap is a meat eating plant native to subtropical wetlands on the east coast of USA. It grasps its victim, mainly insects and arachnid. Like other plants, Venus flytraps also fulfills food requirement from gases in the air and mineral and vitamins in the soil. However they live in poor soil and are healthier if they get food from insects. It has a specific structure for trapping formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant’s leaves which has stiff hairs on internal surface. When anything touches these hairs enough to bend them, the two lobes of the leaves snap shut trapping the object which is inside. The trap will shut in a fraction of second. It is assumed that it stays open for some time in order to allow very small insects to escape because they wouldn’t provide enough food. If the object is not food, the trap will reopen in about twelve hours and spit it out. If an insect is too large in size it will stick out of the trap.
Fast Facts: –
- Venus flytraps can digest human flesh.
- These are not tropical plants.
- These plants live in bogs.
- They can even catch and digest small frogs. Each trap is only able to survive for 4 to 6 catches. After that, it turns brown in colour and falls off.
- Each trap has six trigger hairs, three on each lobe.
- It takes two sensory excitations of one hair to trigger the trap.
- It takes around 10 days for the Venus flytrap to completely digest an insect and reopen its trap.
- These plants need well drained soil.
- These plants are endangered. People were so captivated with the unusual plant that they took them away from their native soil.
- When a Venus flytrap traps a prey, it discharges digestive juices in a way similar to how our stomach functions.
