The Venus flytrap is a flowering plant best known for its carnivorous eating habits.
The “trap” is made of two hinged lobes at the end of each leaf. Venus flytrap are
perennial plants, which means they bloom year after. The Venus flytrap is endemic to
North and South Carolina, but it has been introduced to a few other states, including
Florida and New Jersey. The flowers are white with green veins running from the base
of the petal toward the edges. Pollinated flowers eventually give rise to seeds. Each
trap on the plant can only open and close several times before it dies and fall off. The
Venus flytrap gets some of its nutrients from the soil, but to supplement its diet, the plant
eats insects and arachnids. Ants, beetles, grasshoppers, flying insects, and spiders are
all victims of the flytrap. It can take a Venus flytrap three to five days to digest an
organism, and it may go months between meals. The Venus flytrap is internationally
listed as vulnerable. It is also under consideration for federal listing on the U.S.
endangered species list. This species is threatened by overcollection, habitat
destruction, and fire suppression.
Like all plants, the Venus flytrap gets its energy
from the sun in a process called photosynthesis. It digests insects and arachnids to get
nutrients that are not available in the surrounding environment.
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM OF VENUS FLYTRAP
Perhaps the best known of the insectivorous (insect-eating) plants, the Venus
flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) exhibits a unique system by which it attracts, kills, digests
and absorbs its prey. it mines its prey primarily for essential nutrients (nitrogen and
phosphorous in particular) that are in short supply in its acidic habitat. So, yes, the Venus
flytrap does have a digestive system of sorts. First, it lures its victim with sweet-smelling
nectar, secreted on its steel-trap-shaped leaves. Unsuspecting prey land on the leaf in
search of a reward but instead trip the bristly trigger hairs on the leaf and find
themselves imprisoned behind the interlocking teeth of the leaf edges. There are
between three and six trigger hairs on the surface of each leaf. If the same hair is
touched twice or if two hairs are touched within a 20-second interval, the cells on the
outer surface of the leaf expand rapidly, and the trap snaps shut instantly. If insect
secretions, such as uric acid, stimulate the trap, it will clamp down further on the prey
and form an airtight seal. Once the trap closes, the digestive glands that line the interior
edge of the leaf secrete fluids that dissolve the soft parts of the prey, kill bacteria and
fungi, and break down the insect with enzymes to extract the essential nutrients. These
nutrients are absorbed into the leaf, and five to 12 days following capture, the trap will
reopen to release the leftover exoskeleton. After three to five meals, the trap will no
longer capture prey but will spend another two to three months simply
photosynthesizing before it drops off the plant.
INTEGUMENTARY SYSTEM OF VENUS FLYTRAP
Venus flytraps are equipped with sensory trichomes, which are external, hair-like
structures that sit on its surface to pick up signals from wandering prey. These trichomes
work like a booby-trap: they’re connected to an ion channel that’s triggered by touch
or pressure. Usually it will close by 90 to 95 per cent, but if the animal keeps struggling,
it will send additional signals, and close completely.
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM OF VENUS FLYTRAP
The carnivorous Venus flytrap uses prey-derived amino acid carbon to fuel
respiration. The present labeling experiments showed that Venus flytrap can use protein
of prey, after de-polymerization to amino acids in its external stomach, not only as a
source for growth and development, but also as an alternative respiratory substrate.
This is indicated in the present study by 13CO2 emission, increased levels of
intermediate metabolites of this process, and elevated abundance of proteins of
respiratory processes upon feeding of traps.
By: MARIEL HOPE D.
VELASCO