Download The Venus Fly Trap

The Venus Fly Trap
By Nubair Abbas Hussain
Year 6 Blue
What is the Venus Fly Trap?
• A venus fly trap is a carnivorous plant found in subtropical
wetlands in the east coast of the United States in North
Carolina and South Carolina.
• It is a small plant whose structure can be described as a
rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a short
subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each
stem reaches a maximum size of about three to ten
centimeters, depending on the time of year.
• Longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after
flowering. Flytraps that have more than 7 leaves are colonies
formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground.
The Mechanism of Trapping
The mechanism by which the trap snaps shut involves a complex
interaction between elasticity, turgor and growth. The trap only
shuts when the trigger hair is stimulated twice; this is to avoid
inadvertent triggering of the mechanism by dust and other windborne debris. In the open, un tripped state, the lobes are convex
(bent outwards), but in the closed state, the lobes are concave
(forming a cavity). It is the rapid flipping of this bi-stable state
that closes the trap but the mechanism by which this occurs is
still poorly understood. When the trigger hairs are stimulated, an
action potential is generated, which propagates across the lobes
and stimulates cells in the lobes and in the midrib between them.
It is hypothesized that there is a threshold of ion buildup for the
Venus flytrap to react to stimulation.
Environmental Adaptations
Venus flytraps have developed to thrive in their native boggy
environment is the ability to go long periods without "eating," making
it easy for the plant to survive in the absence of suitable nutrition.
It has also adapted different mechanisms to cope with changing
seasons, including specialized traps for summer and spring months and
the ability to go dormant during cold winter months when insect
activity is at a minimum
Venus flytraps don't eat meat for fun; rather, it's an adaptation that is
so important that people who want to keep Venus flytraps in their
homes need to be careful about how they pot and feed the plants. As
house plants, flytraps cannot be potted in regular potting soil, and they
must never be fertilized. Keeping the plant alive in a normal domestic
setting may require feeding the plant by placing digestible materials
(including fresh-caught bugs) into its traps.
The Venus Fly Trap has seasonal traps. In a springtime, the traps
are green with broad petioles that possess wings. The red
coloration is often times absent. The spring traps last until flowers
form in the early summer.
Next, the summer traps are narrow and wingless, unlike the spring
traps. They also grow vertically and turn a deep maroon color in
the intense sun. This coloration acts as an attractive feature for the
future items on its lunch menu.
For fall, there is no distinctive trap variation.
Lastly, the winter traps are the smallest in length and about average
in width. They are found lying prostrate and are prone to frost bite,
which eventually leads to death.
Adaptation Illustrations
• .
• Modified leaves
• Ability to trap only big insects to save energy. It does not trap small insects to avoid energy
loss
• Different leaves in different seasons
Fun Facts
• Did you know the Venus flytrap plant is also known as the "Jaws of
Death"? It is a plant with gaping jaws that lies in wait for a fly to alight into
its mouth and then the jaws just shut tightly enough to trap the fly. The
leaf consists of 14-20 teeth on each side, which means a total of 28-40
teeth that act as the upper and lower jaws!
• How fast is the Venus flytrap? Well! This mysterious and yet dangerous
plant can close its jaw within seconds or a blink of an eye once an insect
lands in its jaws. The speed with which it shuts the trap is one-tenth of a
second.
• Venus flytrap plants are used as herbal extracts and given the name
"Carnivora". It is used as alternative medicine for treatment of a variety of
ailments including Crohn's disease, HIV, and skin cancer.
• Insecticide treatments are necessary to save a Venus flytrap plant from
different infestations. Acephate also known as organophosphate
insecticide is considered as one of the best systemic insecticides. Pentac
(dienochlor) powder is a powerful option for removing spider mites.
Thank you