VENUS'S-FLYTRAP

Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) (species Dionaea muscipula), flowering perennial plant of the sundew family (Droseraceae), notable for its unusual habit of catching and digesting insects and other small animals. The only member of its genus, the plant is native to a small region of North and South Carolina, U.S., where it is common in damp, mossy areas. The plant, which grows from a bulblike rootstock, bears a round cluster of small white flowers at the tip of an erect stem 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) tall. The leaves are 8 to 15 cm (3 to 6 inches) long and are hinged along the midline so that the two nearly circular lobes, with spiny teeth along their margins, can fold together and enclose an insect alighting on them. This action is triggered by pressure on six sensitive hairs, three on each lobe. In normal daytime temperatures the lobes, when stimulated by prey, snap shut in about half a second. Glands on the leaf surface then secrete a red sap that digests the insect's body and gives the entire leaf a red, flowerlike appearance. About 10 days are required for digestion, after which the leaf reopens. The trap dies after capturing three or four insects.