Featured Plant of the Week (Venus Flytraps)

Venus Flytraps

The world renowned Venus Flytrap is the most spectacular example of carnivorous plants thanks to the dramatic manner in which it catches its prey. Being one amongst the small number of plants capable of very rapid movement, it can snap shut to catch even the fastest of insects; a feat beyond even most people! Combined with its bright colors and outright alien appearance, this plant never fails to capture the imagination.

Botanists know Venus Flytraps as Dionaea muscipula. The genus Dionaea is named after the ancient Greek god Dione, who was mother to Aphrodite. Of course the Romans called Aphrodite, Venus! Flytraps grow in rosettes of four to seven leaves, with each leaf reaching up four inches in height. Plants with more than that are actually colonies of several rosettes joined by an underground stem. Almost all Flytraps are green with red ‘throats’, though there are some varieties that are almost entirely red. Healthy specimens produce small, white, 5-petaled flowers in the spring.

The bottom portions of the leaves are long and narrow and perform photosynthesis like most plants. However, each leaf is topped off by a pair of red pigmented lobes that are hinged in the middle. These lobes form the trap, and both are lined with hair-like cilia that interlock when the plant snaps shut. Both lobes also have just a trio of tiny ‘trichomes’ (tiny hairs) on their surfaces, which act as the triggers that swing the trap shut.

The trap is only triggered if two of the hairs are touched in succession within 20 seconds of each other or one hair touched twice in rapid succession. This prevents the trap from being triggered by inanimate objects and wasting the plant’s energy. The trichomes can even distinguish between rain drops and an insect, so the plant is not tripped up by a drizzle. A healthy Venus Flytrap can snap shut in a fraction of a second, and if it did not catch prey will reopen withing 12 hours to try again.

When the plant does catch live prey, it tightens the trap and secretes something called mucilage, which is a glue-like substance that allows the trap to seal. The lobes then begin to secrete enzymes that digest the insect, turning the trap into a scaled down stomach. Digestion takes about 10 days, after which the trap will open again to be used once more. All that remains of the prey is a hollow husk of carapace.

Dionaea muscipula is cultivated all over the world, but owes its origins to the United States only. Specifically, it can only be found growing natively in North and South Carolina. There is a naturalized version that grows in Florida, but otherwise the plant can only be found growing in cultivation. In fact it occurs in such low numbers in the wild that some conservationists have suggested moving the plant into the ‘Vulnerable’ category of the IUCN Red List. Botanists estimate there are only 38,500 specimens growing wild, versus the millions cultivated in nurseries. Part of the problem is that the plant actually depends on wildfires to suppress its competitors, but since human fire fighting has become so efficient this advantage has been lost. Fortunately, Venus Flytraps have been successfully transplanted and thrived in other regions, so it will be possible to maintain the species even if its native habitat becomes too difficult to maintain.

Flytraps have a reputation for being tough to care for, but the trick is to try to match its native conditions. It prefers warmer places, though it can tolerate temperatures down to the low 40s F. Some humidity is also important, though less so than other carnivorous plants. Avoid direct sunlight for more than four or five hours at a time, sticking instead to bright indirect light. Venus Flytraps also perform best when planted in a peaty or mossy medium that drains well. When watering them, soak the soil and then allow it to get moderately dry before doing so again. To fertilize it, just feed it insects! If that’s too icky a very mild amount of fertilizer applied directly to the traps will suffice.

BloomRite® Gardens is offering 3” Venus Flytraps in display trays of 28 plants. They can be had for $3.40 per pot. Call ahead to determine availability.