Dionaea muscipula
Venus Fly Trap
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Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) - Description
The Venus flytrap (also Venus's flytrap or Venus' flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids— with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces.
Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) - Growth
Venus Fly Traps can take full sun as they would in nature. When they get a lot of sun, their leaves will turn red to protect themselves from too much light. If growing indoors provide full or bright filtered light.
Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) - Planting
Sow seeds in spring. Be sure that the temperatures do not get below 50°F (10°C). Be patient as often times germination rates are slow.
Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) - Pest
Prone to crown rot and leaf spot.
Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) - Interesting facts
Venus Fly Traps are native to bogs in the coastal areas of North and South Carolina. The bogs are generally poor in nutrients, which is why this carnivorous plant needs to derive its nutrients from other sources. In this case the other sources are insects. The hairs on the insides of the traps that are used to trigger the closing mechanism need to be tripped twice in relatively close succession. This mechanism provides more selection for when the traps will close. Rain drops or a random pebble dropping in the trap generally will not trigger the trap because of this mechanism. Venus Fly Traps do flower and require insects to pollinate them. The plant produces a tall inflorescence of flowers that are held high above the traps so that potential pollinators are not "accidentally" digested. Besides each trap has a limited number of times for which it can close (some say only 7 times). When a trap closes and senses that it was a false alarm, the trap will slowly reopen again. After the trap's final triggering, the leaf will die. So if you like triggering the traps to close, keep in mind that it will only do so for a limited number of times before you kill off the leaf.
Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) - Soil and irrigation
Provide soggy soil (generally peat moss is used) that is acidic in pH. Since Venus Fly Traps are native to bogs with little nutritional value to the soil, water with too many nutrients can actually harm the development of the plant. Use distilled water for irrigation.
