Venus Flytrap

Venus Flytrap Latest News

Recently, scientists have found the physical mechanism ‌behind the snapping action of Venus flytrap. 

About Venus Flytrap

• It is a small perennial carnivorous plant of the sundew family.
• Distribution: It is native to a limited region of North Carolina and South Carolina in the United States.
• Characteristics
  • The plant grows in moist, acidic soil.
  • It grows in nutrient-poor environments and supplements its nutrition by capturing ​and digesting insects.
• Mechanism of Snapping
  • The “trap” is made of two hinged lobes at the end of each leaf.
  • It uses specialized trigger hairs called trichomes located on the inner surface of the trap.
  • When an insect touches these hairs twice within a short period of time, the trap closes. ​Closure can occur in as little as one tenth of a second.
  • After the plant absorbs the nutrient-rich liquid produced by the digestive processes, the trap ​reopens, with the insect’s empty exoskeleton left behind.
  • This type of movement is called thigmonasty—a nondirectional plant response to being touched.

Findings of the new Study

• The research says that when the trap is stimulated, the cell walls of the outer epidermal layer rapidly soften by roughly 30 to 40%, and the cell wall becomes more flexible.
• This releases internal stresses stored in the ‌tissue and causes ⁠the trap to bend and close.
• When the trap snaps shut, the insect is sealed inside for digestion.

Source: DD News

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