View source for Venus flytrap

{{Speciesbox
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN2.3
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn">{{Cite iucn | author = Schnell, D. | author2 = Catling, P. | author3 = Folkerts, G. | author4 = Frost, C. | author5 = Gardner, R. | display-authors = etal | title = ''Dionaea muscipula'' | volume = 2000 | page = e.T39636A10253384 | date = 2000 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T39636A10253384.en }} Listed as Vulnerable (VU A1acd, B1+2c v2.3)</ref>
| name = ''Dionaea''<br />''Dionaea muscipula''
| image = VFT_ne1.JPG
| image_caption = Leaf
| genus = Dionaea
| parent_authority = [[Daniel Solander|Sol.]] ''ex'' [[John Ellis (naturalist)|J.Ellis]] 1768
| species = muscipula
| authority = J.Ellis
| range_map = Dionaea distribution (revised).svg
| range_map_caption = Distribution
| synonyms = *''Dionea'' <small>Raf., spelling variant</small> 
*''Dionaea corymbosa''<br/><small>(Raf.) Steud. (1840)</small>
*''Dionaea crinita''<br/><small>Sol. (1990) as synonym</small>
*''Dionaea dentata''<br/><small>[[Peter D'Amato|D'Amato]] (1998) name published without description</small>
*''Dionaea heterodoxa''<br/><small>D'Amato (1998) ''nom.nud.''</small>
*''Dionaea muscicapa''<br/><small>St.Hil. (1824) ''sphalm.typogr.''</small>
*''Dionaea sensitiva''<br/><small>Salisb. (1796)</small>
*''Dionaea sessiliflora''<br/><small>(Raf.) Steud. (1840)</small>
*''Dionaea uniflora''<br/><small>(Raf.) Steud. (1840)</small>
*''Drosera corymbosa''<br/><small>Raf. (1833)</small>
*''Drosera sessiliflora''<br/><small>Raf. (1833)</small>
*''Drosera uniflora''<br/><small>Raf. (1833)</small>
| synonyms_ref = <ref>Schlauer, J. (N.d.) [http://www.omnisterra.com/bot/cp_home.cgi?name=Dionaea+muscipula ''Dionaea muscipula''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724175243/http://www.omnisterra.com/bot/cp_home.cgi?name=Dionaea+muscipula |date=2020-07-24 }}. Carnivorous Plant Database.</ref>
}}

[[File:Venus Fly Trap Eating Compilation Scott's Revenge On The Caterpillars.webm|thumb|Venus Flytrap catching food in motion]]

The '''Venus flytrap''' (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a [[carnivorous plant]] (a [[plant]] that eats small [[animal]]s, such as [[insect]]s). Carnivorous plants grow in soil that has little [[nitrogen]]. They get nitrogen from the insects they trap. This nitrogen is used to make intravenous food like proteins and fats.

The Venus flytrap is one of a very small group of plants that can [[Rapid plant movement|snap shut very quickly]]. When an insect or [[spider]] crawls along the leaves and touches a hair, the trap closes ''only if a different hair is touched within twenty seconds of the first touch''. The two-touch [[trigger|trigger]] means that little energy is wasted on things that are not food.<ref name=Slack>{{cite book | author=Slack A | title=Carnivorous plants | publisher=Alphabooks | location=London | year=1988 | pages=18–19 | isbn= 0-7136-3079-5 }}</ref>
== Appearance ==
The Venus flytrap is a small plant, with small leaves. Its [[clam]]-shaped leaves look rather like flowers, and so they attract insects. When they are open, they are red and smell sweet. They have stiff hairs on each edge. Inside the leaves, there are very sensitive, tiny hairs which cause the leaves to snap shut when they are touched. Two hairs must be touched to make the leaves close. This makes it more likely that the thing that touched its hair is living.Then it secretes juices to digest the insect.
== Nutrition ==
The Venus flytrap feeds on insects, such as [[ants]], [[beetles]], [[woodlice]], [[worms]], [[flies]], [[grasshoppers]], and [[moths]].
First it traps the insect inside its leaves, and then lets out a [[liquid]] that helps [[digestion|digest]] the trapped animal. The plant consumes the insect and takes the nitrogen from the insect's body.

The Venus flytrap makes [[sugar]] by [[photosynthesis]]. The insects give it [[nutrient]]s which it cannot get from the waterlogged [[soil]]. With the nutrients it can build up [[enzyme]]s and other molecules which need [[trace element]]s as well as sugars and [[amino acid]]s.
== House plants ==
Venus flytraps were first discovered in [[North America]] on the [[coast]] of [[North Carolina|North]] and [[South Carolina]], where it grows wild near the Cape Fear River. However, people anywhere can grow Venus flytraps in pots. Venus flytraps in pots need water and soil without [[calcium]] or nitrogen in it. It is named after the Roman goddess of love, [[Venus (goddess)|Venus]].

== Venus Flytrap Media ==
<gallery widths='160px' heights='100%' mode='traditional' caption=''>
File:Drawing of Venus Flytrap.jpg|Illustration from ''[[Curtis's Botanical Magazine]]'' by [[William Curtis]] (1746–1799)

File:Venus flytrap Map.gif|Map of the original distribution of the Venus flytrap

File:Dionaea muscipula closing trap animation.gif|This animation shows a Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) closing after one of the trigger hairs is stimulated. Total time: 27 seconds.

File:Venus Flytrap time lapse.webm|A time lapse showing Venus flytrap catching prey (see [[Commons:Category:Videos of Dionaea muscipula|more videos here]])

File:Snap, Digest, Absorb - How the Venus flytrap processes prey 01.png |Stages and timing of the Venus flytrap carnivory process, ''[[Knowable Magazine]]''

File:Dionaea-muscipula-Ausloeseborste-Mikroskopaufnahme.jpg|Closeup of one of the hinged trigger hairs

File:Dionaea Paria beetle.jpg|Chrysomelid beetle, ''[[Paria (beetle)|Paria]]''

File:Drosera falconeri Darwiniana.jpg|''[[Drosera falconeri]]'', with short, wide, sticky leaf traps

File:Dionaea muscipula akai ryu.jpg|''Dionaea muscipula'' 'Akai Ryu', Japanese for 'Red Dragon', in cultivation
</gallery>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Other websites ==
* [http://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html Information about the Venus flytrap from the Botanical Society of America website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040922084801/http://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html |date=2004-09-22 }}
* [http://www.karnivoras.com website with information about the Carnivorous Plants of the world] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185649/http://www.karnivoras.com/ |date=2016-03-03 }}

{{wikispecies|Dionaea muscipula}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q155825}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Caryophyllales]]
[[Category:Mimicry]]
[[Category:Carnivorous plants]]
[[Category:Rapid plant movement]]