Venus fly traps are one of the most interesting creatures in the plant kingdom due to some peculiarities the plant possess. The Dionaea muscipula, or Venus flytrap, is an interesting, carnivorous plant. The plant unlike a normal plant is carnivorous and this implies that the plant is a meat-eater. So many people are fascinated by this amazing plant and the legendary Charles Darwin had to call the plant a wonderful plant.
This plant has caught the attention of so many people and as a result of this, it is not too strange to find out that the Venus Flytrap Is The Official “State Carnivorous Plant” Of North Carolina. Oklahoma has a state cartoon character, New Mexico has a state question, and North Carolina has a state carnivorous plant: The honor deservingly went to the Venus Flytrap in 2005. This further lends credence to the degree to which the plant has been catching the attention of people and deserving of further attention and research.
The way Venus Flytraps attract their prey is by utilizing sweet nectar. The way this works is that once the prey touches some kind of activating system in the plant particularly the hair in like two times in quick succession, and an electric charge produced by the plant ensures that its interlocking teeth forms a kind of cage which traps the prey there. If the prey continues to struggle which is definitely inevitable because the plant needed to escape, this will make the trap to seal up and then the digestive enzymes of the plant will dissolve the victim’s soft tissues.
What exactly are the things that makes this plant wonderful as claimed by Darwin? We will be looking at some amazing ten facts about the Venus fly trap plant that really makes it standout. Below are some 1o mysterious facts about the Venus fly trap plant that will daze you:
Table of Contents
- Habits & Diet
- Sensitivity and discernment
- 1. Limited trap life
- 2. Thomas Jefferson was not left out
- 3. The Venus Flytrap Evolved From An Early Sundew Relative
- 4. Charles Darwin Was another Admirer
- 5. Prey Is Lured In With Nectar
- 6. Venus Flytraps Also Glow Blue
- 7. Traps Even Catch the Occasional Frog
- 8. Venus Flytraps Can Digest Human Flesh
- 9. Science Has Created Robotic Venus Flytraps
- 10. Red Flytraps can be cultured and cultivated
- In conclusion
Habits & Diet
The most intriguing thing about this plant is the means by which it eats. The Venus flytrap’s essential prey are the ants, however, it will likewise eat flies, creepy crawlies, slugs, insects and even little frogs. Flytraps don’t simply eat bugs for nourishment, however. Like different plants, they additionally require water, oxygen, and daylight. Bugs essentially supplement their eating regimen, as indicated by the Botanical Society of America.
Flytraps draw creepy crawlies by the ruddy covering in the leaves and this is done by discharging a fragrant nectar. At the point when bugs arrive in the jaws of the flytrap, it doesn’t clip down immediately. Tactile hairs, called trichomes, within the petals basically tally the developments from the bug. There must be no less than two developments in 20 seconds or the petals won’t close. This keeps it from catching flotsam and jetsam or different things that wouldn’t make a decent supper.
On the second development, the plant shuts its jaws in less than a second by snapping from an arched shape to curved shape. The swarms on the edges of the leaves work like correctional facility bars to keep the creepy crawly from making an escape.
On the third development, it begins to process the bug. Stomach related juices are acquainted with the mouth region and they separate the bug. Following five to 12 days, the plant will revive and the parts of the bug that couldn’t be processed drop out.
They May Have Been Named After Lady-Parts
The way the plant got its name is another source of interesting fact about the plant. It is not out of this world to conclude that the name of this plant might have gotten by its movement which looks like a part of the body of a woman. The plants’ units helped early wayfarers to remember expanding vaginas.
Besides, In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of adoration and magnificence and the mother, Dione, of her Greek proportionate is in charge of the plant’s sort name, Dionaea. As per British naturalist John Ellis, the “delightful appearance of its drain white blossoms, and the tastefulness of its leaves” motivated the moniker.
Sensitivity and discernment
Venus’ flytraps can “release” objects. The plant is a very intelligent plant and it is amazing to know that they have the ability to distinguish between food and what is not food. It does not just try to digest everything that comes along its way. When one of the traps gets a living creature, for example, a bug, trigger hairs inside the trap are reached as the prey endeavors to run away, and what this does is that it instigates the trap to close up. In the event that nonliving debris, for example, soil or a stone land in the trap, the trigger hairs aren’t invigorated and it just lies fallow there. So when the Venus’ flytrap recaptures vitality, it opens up and this enables the unprofitable item to drop out or overwhelm in the breeze.
1. Limited trap life
Another interesting fact about this plant is regarding its trapping capacity. The outstanding ability of the plant to trap preys is interestingly not a quality of the plant that lasts forever. The trap on the plant just has a set number of lives. After each catch, the trap of the plant stays shut for around a week and a half, keeping it from getting extra supplements. The trap of the plant can just open and close around about six times and eventually it forever closes. The trap will keep on photosynthesis to give supplements to the plant, yet will become unable to trap clueless creepy crawlies. This implies that preys will become free from the menace of the plant after sometime. They only need to endure the trapping capability of a trap for some time and eventually the particular Venus trap in question will become just like another plant who simply focus on harnessing sunlight and water to make its own food through a process known as photosynthesis.
2. Thomas Jefferson was not left out
It is fascinating to know that the great Thomas Jefferson was not left out in making an attempt to also cultivate the amazing plants. Even the Renaissance man, our third president’s scientific career is sadly underappreciated. It was not a very good experience for him though due to some difficulties he encountered in his bid to cultivate these plants. Although the plants are native to the Carolina swamplands, Jefferson had great difficulty getting his hands on some seeds, failing to do so until 1804.
3. The Venus Flytrap Evolved From An Early Sundew Relative
As much as Charles Darwin was very interested in this plant and was committed to the study of the plant, he was never able to explain the evolutionary origin of the plant and that was not done until so many years after his death and as a matter of fact very recently. It was in 2009 that genetic data linked Dionaea muscipula to sundews, which are comparatively primitive bug-gobblers. This tracing of the plant to Sundews is not a wide goose chase and looks very reasonable especially when you consider the affinity of both plant for insects and their tendency to serve as some kind of trap that preys that are not wise enough to notice them becomes a victim of. Another consideration for this tracing is the fact that the Venus flytrap plant is more or less an advanced version of the sundew plant.
4. Charles Darwin Was another Admirer
Historically, various great men had come in contact with the Venus flytrap plant and apart from Thomas Jefferson, another great and popular personality who came in contact with this plant was Charles Darwin and his admiration for the plant is a very interesting one as a result of his unusual commitment to study the plant and determination to let the world see another fascinating creature that exists in nature that demonstrates a high degree of fierce competitiveness and aggression that further gave credence to his work generally on the concept of the survival of the fittest. Charles Darwin was also fascinated by the Venus fly trap plant and without any form of constraint he also wrote concerning these interesting plants. “The Venus Flytrap,” he wrote in 1875, “is the most wonderful plant in the world.” Darwin was so fascinated by this plants that he could not help it and dedicated an entire book to insect-eating plants, which he partially illustrated himself.
5. Prey Is Lured In With Nectar
The way the hunting mechanism of this plant operates is really interesting as it has a very intelligent method of ensuring that its prey are drawn and trapped. The flytrap plant is a very sophisticated plant that is not just a trap but has its own well developed bait station to capture its preys. The plant produces nectar which is naturally sweet and this is the bait because unsuspecting insects who love the taste of nectar would come to the plant just to enjoy a nice meal of nectar without the prior knowledge that the Venus flytrap plant is such a bad host that does not only trap its visitor but also goes as far as feeding on them. The flytrap’s leaves, about which Ellis waxed poetic, secrete sweet-smelling nectar which beguiles hungry invertebrates. Many other carnivorous plants use the same tactic and this wisdom from nature is what people who develop traps also utilize in developing their traps.
6. Venus Flytraps Also Glow Blue
Venus flytrap is truly an advanced and highly developed plant. The reason why preys fall a victim of this plant is not just because the plant has a bait in form of the nectar which attracts the preys. The plant actually has a further antic with which it ensures that its preys are drawn to it even from afar long before that get to the plant to feast on the nectar produced by the plant. What happens is that the plant produces a glowing blue light which looks attractive to the prey and make them have no other choice than to come closer to check out the effulgence of such a beautiful sight they are beholding. They also get attracted to the nectar but that is because the blue light emitted from the plant has drawn them closer initially.
7. Traps Even Catch the Occasional Frog
The Venus flytrap plant is truly a fascinating plant and a well-developed hunter. Of course, generally, the pods clamp down on ants, beetles, and other small insects and in their nutrient-deprived marshy environment, the many-legged critters’ exoskeletons provide a critical source of nitrogen. However, it is very interesting to know that Venus flytrap are so effective in hunting that there are times they are able to do more than catch just insects but go as far as even catching frogs! Hence, as much as insects feel doomed to be at the mercy of the Venus flytrap plant any time they make the mistake of going around the plant, amphibians have no reason to rejoice just yet because they are also not immune to this hunter if they make the wrong moves.
8. Venus Flytraps Can Digest Human Flesh
If you think what you have been reading so far concerning the Venus flytrap is truly amazing and interesting, wait till you see this. It is no news that these plants can trap insects as well as amphibians sometimes and have no issues digesting them due to the digestive mechanism of the plant, however, it has been proven that these plants are not only adept at digesting insects and amphibians but they can also digest humans skins!
There is no plant that has been discovered that has the ability to do this but Dionaea muscipula can actually digest strips of human skin if they’re placed in its pods. This is yet another very interesting but scary fact about this plant that further proves that it deserves to be properly studied.
9. Science Has Created Robotic Venus Flytraps
It is interesting to know that scientists have been so impressed by the hunting mechanism nature has endowed the Venus flytrap with that they have also made a robotic version of the plant that mimics the trapping ability of this plant. By the time the knowledge of robotics become more developed than it currently is, you really need to watch out for the mechanical flytrap. Technicians in Maine and South Korea have built tiny automated replicas which can actually trap their own (live) insects. This is really interesting to imagine and this is not just some kind of fictional story that can only happen on Hollywood, this is real stuff that you should envisage in a very short time so that you will not be too surprised when you see this begin to unravel right before your own eyes.
10. Red Flytraps can be cultured and cultivated
If you have ever nurtured the idea of personally cultivating your own homegrown Venus flytrap plant then there is good news for you that will really interest you. It is not impossible to grow the plant as many had thought. The Venus fly trap is not difficult to cultivate at all as long as you understand some vital things concerning the sort of environment and soil the plant will thrive. A lot of efforts is going towards that direction and today, thanks to captive breeding efforts, far more specimens reside in clay pots and greenhouses than out in the wild. A few maroon, burgundy, and crimson subspecies have been created, most notably the variety dubbed Akai Ryu (Japanese for “Red Dragon”). You only need to understand how to grow the plant and you can be certain of displaying your own homegrown Venus flytrap plant to your neighbors and guest alike as the case may be.
In conclusion
The Venus flytrap plant is indeed a very interesting plant that has a lot of fascinating facts about them and the information you have received so far from this article should have helped you understand that in case you were not very conversant with the plant before now. You can also grow your own Venus flytrap plant if you want as this will further help you confirm that the information you have been furnished with in this article is nothing but the truth. You don’t have to be a seasoned farmer to cultivate the plant, what you need is the right attitude to learn and the desire to discover something new and explore the gift of nature we have around us waiting to gladden your heart as you discover the amazing fact as about them as a result of deliberately paying close attention to them. You will never know how much there is around you and the things you can discover until you set out to get them, you can increase your knowledge and experience with plants and a very interesting one you can lay your hands on and nurture is the Venus flytrap plant as a result of some of the peculiarities associated with the plant that has been highlighted earlier.