Advertisement.

EnchantedLearning.com is a user-supported site.
As a bonus, site members have access to a banner-ad-free version of the site, with print-friendly pages.
Click here to learn more.

ad
(Already a member? Click here.)


VENUS FLYTRAP
Dionaea muscipula


The Venus flytrap is a small carnivorous plant from North Carolina, in the southeastern United States. The flytrap has hinged, jaw-like leaves that capture and "eat" insects.

The Venus flytrap can live in very poor soils since it supplements its diet with minerals obtained from insects.

TRAPPING INSECTS
Each trap on a Venus flytrap plant has sensitive hairs that signal the plant when it is touched and cause it to close quickly. The sweet-scented leaves attract insects. When an insect alights on a trap and triggers hairs, it causes the jaw-like leaves to snap shut. It takes about 1/30 of a second for the leaves to snap shut (in full sunlight). Cloudy conditions or low temperatures slow the reaction time.

The trapped insect is then slowly dissolved by acids and digested by the plant. About a week later, all that is left of the insect is its hard chitin exoskeleton.

A pair of flytrap leaves dies after catching insects four times. If a trap is triggered but there is no insect inside, the leaves will re-open in about a day.

GROWING ONE AT HOME!
Venus flytraps thrive in a humid environment with bright light and acid soil (sphagnum moss works well). Don't fertilize a Venus flytrap; just feed it some small insects (like ants) to keep it healthy. Keep it watered (with rain water or distilled water so the pH of the soil stays acidic). Trim dead leaves to avoid disease. Allow the plant to go dormant over winter; lower the temperature (to 33-55 degrees F or 1-12 degrees C). They can withstand a light frost.

CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Plantae
  • Division Anthophyta (flowering plants)
  • Class Magnoliopsida (primitive flowering plants)
  • Subclass Dilleniidae
  • Order Nepenthales
  • Family Droseraceae Salisb.
  • Genus Dionaea
  • Species muscipula

drawing by Audrey, age 6


Enchanted Learning®
Over 35,000 Web Pages
Sample Pages for Prospective Subscribers, or click below

Overview of Site
What's New
Enchanted Learning Home
Monthly Activity Calendar
Books to Print
Site Index

K-3
Crafts
K-3 Themes
Little Explorers
Picture dictionary
PreK/K Activities
Rebus Rhymes
Stories
Writing
Cloze Activities
Essay Topics
Newspaper
Writing Activities
Parts of Speech

Fiction
The Test of Time

Biology
Animal Printouts
Biology Label Printouts
Biomes
Birds
Butterflies
Dinosaurs
Food Chain
Human Anatomy
Mammals
Plants
Rainforests
Sharks
Whales
Physical Sciences: K-12
Astronomy
The Earth
Geology
Hurricanes
Landforms
Oceans
Tsunami
Volcano
Languages
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese (Romaji)
Portuguese
Spanish
Swedish
Geography/History
Explorers
Flags
Geography
Inventors
US History

Other Topics
Art and Artists
Calendars
College Finder
Crafts
Graphic Organizers
Label Me! Printouts
Math
Music
Word Wheels

Click to read our Privacy Policy

E-mail


Enchanted Learning Search

Search the Enchanted Learning website for:



Advertisement.

Advertisement.


Copyright ©1997-2018 EnchantedLearning.com ------ How to cite a web page