Venus Flytrap (Venus Flytrap) has the habit of preying on insects. Generally, this kind of plant is called "Carnivorous plant" or "Insectivorous plant". As mentioned above, the predatory organs of the Venus flytrap are part of its leaves. Most of these carnivorous plants grow in wetlands with relatively poor nutrients. In order to supplement the insufficient nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphoric acid, they have specially evolved structures to prey insects to digest their nutrients.
The native place of Venus flytrap is grassland on wetland, and the soil in this area is mostly peat and silica sand. Most of its water source is rainwater. As rainwater merges with carbon dioxide and falls to the earth through the atmosphere, it creates an acidic environment with a pH of about 5-6. It can be seen that Venus flytrap prefers places where water is sufficient and acidic environment is the medium.
The acidic soil and low temperature hinder the growth of bacteria that decompose organic matter. However, if the organic matter is not decomposed, the remains of plants such as sphagnum moss cannot be completely decomposed and decompose. These decaying organic matter will turn into peat and lack nutrients. In addition to being washed away by rain over the years, trace elements have almost been lost. Therefore, the native land of Venus flytrap is a barren land where not only the essential nutrients for growth, nitrogen and phosphoric acid are insufficient, but also trace elements.
Venus flytrap is a perennial herb. After the seeds germinate, they will reach maturity after 4 to 5 years, and they will begin to bloom and bear fruit. With good care, the Venus flytrap can live at least 20 to 30 years.
Venus flytraps begin to bloom shortly after new leaves are grown in spring, and they will grow up to 15
There are about 10 buds at the top of the flower stem of 25 cm. A flower blooms every other day, the flower color is white. A flower can bloom for a few days before pollination, but if the pollination is successful, the flower will die the next day, then the ovary will gradually expand, and the fruit will mature in about a few weeks. The mature fruit contains dozens of black, drop-shaped seeds.
After the flowers bloom, the Venus flytrap will continue to grow more leaves and grow larger insect traps. This is the season when the Venus flytrap needs a lot of predation to store nutrients. For next year's flowering. The fruits that are set at the end of spring will mature in summer, and the bursting seeds will germinate over a period of time. The young Venus flytrap first grows false leaves, and then the first cotyledon with a complete insect trap will start to catch insects.
The leaf life of the Venus flytrap is about a few months (2 to 3 months) in autumn, but only a few weeks in summer; the old leaves will gradually turn yellow, lose their ability to catch insects, and finally turn black and die, but the new leaves are still Will continue to grow from the center; throughout the summer, the Venus flytrap will continue to grow new leaves, until autumn, grow another slower-growing leaves; at this time, the leaves grown in summer are so big that they wither. , The Venus flytrap is ready for winter. In winter, some small insect traps will still remain, but they have lost their ability to catch insects and are hardly used. When the climate is too cold, the leaves on the ground will wither.
The predation structure of the Venus flytrap is a clip formed by a symmetrical left and right leaf. This clip-like structure is specialized from the leaf, and the leaf-like structure connecting the insect trap is the petiole. The outer edge of the trap is lined with spiny hairs. These hairs are soft and can be used to prevent caught insects from escaping. When the insect traps clamp the insects, the hairs on the ends of the clamps stagger and become a cage, preventing the insects from escaping.
The inside of the trap is red and it is covered with many tiny red spots, which are the digestive glands of the Venus flytrap. Three pairs of fine hairs can be seen on the inside of the trap. These fine hairs are the sensory hairs of the Venus flytrap, which are used to detect whether the insect has reached a suitable position for catching. Most insect traps have only five pairs of sensory hairs, but it is also possible to produce insect traps with one or more sensory hairs.