2023-08-07 05:15:06
Find all the episodes of the “Genius Plants” series here.
What a reckless little spider! A snap of the fingers and there she is trapped in the Venus flytrap, which, as its name does not indicate, eats flies as well as spiders, ants and Orthoptera (grasshoppers) and beetles (ladybugs).
cleverly called Dionaea muscipula – literally Venus flytrap – this plant belongs to the family of Droseraceae, one of the eighteen families of carnivorous plants. Very well known to the general public, it is found in garden centres; it is considered “the” carnivorous plant among all. British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) even elevated her to the rank of plant the most “wonderful” in the world. In his work Insectivorous Plants, published in 1875, where he confirms the carnivority of certain species, he devoted forty-five pages to it. “This plant, commonly called the trapdoor of Venus because of the speed and force of its movements, is one of the most amazing in the world”he writes in his book.
Read also: How plants become carnivores
It was the Irish botanist John Ellis (1710-1776) who first gave a scientific description of the plant in 1768. To attract and trap its prey, Dionaea muscipula indeed has more than one trick up its sleeve. These are arranged in a rosette and composed of two lobes of a brilliant color turning red, inside which a system of three to six sensitive hairs activates the trap. Nectariferous glands producing an odorous substance attract future prey. At the periphery of the two lobes, a series of fifteen to twenty slightly inward curved teeth function like a wolf trap.
The Venus flytrap is the only carnivorous plant to have an active trapping mechanism, unlike other carnivorous plants. Example: the sundew passively traps its prey thanks to its leaves covered with glandular trichomes (hairs) which secrete a viscous substance, like flypaper. And the victims of the nepenthes drown in its pitcher-like leaves.
Hair stimulation
Our little spider is not only reckless, she is also unlucky. If she had only touched one of the hairs on the inside of the lobe, she might have got away with it. In fact, two stimuli on the same hair or another within an interval of about twenty to thirty seconds are necessary for the jaws of the Venus flytrap to close. Beyond that, the counter resets to zero.
You have 41.29% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#Venus #flytrap #agile #carnivore