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Venus Flytrap

From Building Character with True Stories from Nature by Barbara A. Lewis, copyright © 2012. Free Spirit Publishing Inc., Minneapolis, MN; 800-735-7323; www.freespirit.com. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual classroom. For all other uses, contact www.freespirit.com/company/permissions.cfm.

Snappy Venus Flytraps Have you ever heard of a movie star that’s a plant?

Meet Audrey! She was the main character in a movie called The Little Shop of Horrors. She was a gigantic Venus flytrap. Audrey had a big appetite. The monster plant would cry to her owner, “Feed me, Seymour!” And Audrey was picky about what she ate. Her favorite meal? People.

The Venus flytrap is a real plant. But don’t worry. It’s small, not huge. And it doesn’t really eat people. It dines on insects and spiders. Still, don’t try sticking your finger in a flytrap. It won’t hurt you. But you could hurt or kill the plant.

Venus flytraps grow in bogs and damp, mossy areas in North and South Carolina. The dirt in these bogs doesn’t have enough nitrogen to keep the plant healthy. So the flytrap developed its taste for insects and spiders. They give the plant the nitrogen it needs. The Venus flytrap also gets protein from these meals.

The Venus flytrap catches its supper with special pairs of hinged leaves. They look like sets of jaws, or very small bear traps. The edges of the leaves have long spikes. There are tiny hairs on the leaves of each trap. When a curious insect wanders along a leaf, it brushes against these hairs. The contact triggers the trap. The leaves clamp together. They snap shut faster than you can snap your fingers. Chomp!

It takes the plant about ten days to digest its unlucky prey. The flytrap makes chemicals that dissolve the trapped bug or spider. The plant absorbs nutrients from the prey’s body.

The Venus flytrap gets its name from Venus, the Roman goddess of love. This might sound strange. After all, this toothy plant doesn’t seem very loving. On the other hand, you could say that it really loves bugs.