“The most wonderful plant in the world.”
- Charles Darwin -
Born in 384 B.C., the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle became a world-famous and historic figure through his many teachings in politics, psychology, and ethics. Many consider him to be one of the world’s greatest thinkers, a title that is not likely to go away (1). One of Aristotle's beliefs was that every creature on earth belonged to a sort of soul group. In Aristotle’s mind, plants had “vegetative souls” that only allowed them to grow and benefit others. According to Aristotle, there was no need for a plant to eat another creature--a trait seen in almost every other animal (2).
How very wrong he was.
A Discovery of Carnivorous Proportions
The Venus flytrap is native to and mostly found in the soft, moist soils of the Coastal Plain and Sandhill regions of the United States, particularly in North and South Carolina (15). The plants have also been known to appear in states like Florida and New Jersey (3). Still, Colonial Governor of North Carolina, Arthur Dobbs, earned the credit of discovering the Venus Fly Trap in 1759. On April 2, 1759, his son sent a letter to a friend of his father’s, an English naturalist named Peter Collison (5). Dobbs explained, “We have a kind of Catch Fly sensitive which closes upon anything that touches it. It grows in the Latitude 34 but not in 35º-I will try to save the seed here” (4).
Nine years later, John Ellis, an 18th-century naturalist, was given a dead, dry Venus Fly Trap by Peter Collison, another English naturalist. Not long after, the plant became admired by many in England, where it had become known as the “Tippitywichit.” Ellis continued studying the plant to see exactly what was happening to the insects that landed inside its flower heads and sent a letter to Carl Linnaeus, the most notable botanist at this time (5, 2). In the letter to Linnaeus, Ellis explained what the plant did and how it did it. He noted that when a small insect or animal landed inside one of the plant’s “mouths”, it was killed by its bristles.
Linnaeus did not take Ellis’s theory in stride, rejecting the idea--a testament to just how long the relevance of Aristotle’s teachings lasted and just how bizarre this plant was. In many ways, it is said that Linnaeus’s philosophical and religious beliefs barred him from believing in the plant at all. Due to his thoughts and opinions on the natural order of life, a plant capable of eating another creature was impossible to fathom (2). “These plants don’t catch insects, they don’t eat them, the only thing they do is shelter insects from rain,” he argued defiantly (2). Even though this same opinion extended to other plants similar to the flytrap at the time, his beliefs were no match for scientific research and discovery (2).
How and Why a Plant Eats Bugs
Think of venuses like a human brain and limbs. If one was to put their hand on a hot stove, the brain would automatically retract it nearer to the body and farther away from harm. The skin has thousands of sensory receptors on it that are ready to deliver messages to the spinal cord, brainstem, and brain through nerve fibers and that, once to the brain, are registered as the feeling of pain (6). On the mouths of Venus flytraps, these thousands of pain receptors are replaced with merely 3 to 4 sensor hairs. At only 0.2 inches long, these hairs can send a message to the rest of the plant once an insect, arachnid, or small animal that has been lured to the plant by a fruity aroma it secretes brushes against or trips them (11). The first signal essentially alerts the plant that something has entered the mouth and keeps the plant from closing every second during a rainstorm; it takes the insect brushing against or tripping the same hair twice for the mouth to close. Following the second signal, the plant releases water from ions inside it, causing the water pressure to drop. Thus, the plant closes, trapping the insect inside (7).
Similar to how stomach acid breaks down food in animals, being digested inside a Venus flytrap is no pretty picture. For twelve days, the insect is treated to fluids released from the plant walls that dissolve its body (8). The process begins with enzymes that dissolve the insect’s exoskeleton and ends with the insect having its nitrogen-rich blood sucked out. In the end, the plant’s mouth
opens, and all that is left is a thin “shadow
skeleton” of the insect that will soon blow away in
the breeze (7).
Venus flytraps bloom year after year, making them perennials, and while botanists estimate that Venus flytraps live over twenty years in total, their two-decade lifespans are not due to the influx of nutrients and energy given to them by insects and other small creatures. The Venus flytrap’s method of survival is to do the out-of-the-ordinary. Many plants thrive in nutrient-rich black soil and through the process of photosynthesis. However, while the Venus flytrap does use photosynthesis to stay alive, it has also evolved to contend with the acidic soil that it lives in; it has evolved over millions of years to ensure it obtains the nutrients it needs (9). As a result, it does not have to rely on acidic soil.
Sixty million years ago, a common ancestor of the Venus flytrap was present, and, between then and now, it is theorized that the Venus flytrap has been able to duplicate its ancestor’s genome, allowing the genes found in its roots (roots being the standard way plants get nutrients) into its leaves (10). It is even widely believed that any plant can evolve in this fashion, meaning that perhaps in another 60 million years, a walk through nature may be the most dangerous idea known to man.
Vulnerable Venus
According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the population of Venus flytraps has dwindled exponentially. To our knowledge, there were once 125 different populations of the plant in North and South Carolina. Now, only 71 exist in North Carolina and 2 in South Carolina with many in both states being ranked low in numbers. The Venus Flytrap has lost many opportunities to thrive in its natural habitat due to manmade developments. For example, when Flytraps grow near roads, they are prime targets for the dangers of vehicles and roadwork. Venus Flytraps also face clearcutting (14). Similar to deforestation, entire populations of trees are leveled out (15).
This subjects the moist-soil-dependent Venus Flytraps to fatal dry, coarse soil. Finally, due to Venus Flytraps growing low to the ground, they rely on natural wildfires to stay out of the shade and can suffer at the hands of human-made fire protection, as well. “Venus Flytraps need fire on a very consistent basis,” Hervey Melvern, Nature Conservancy Protection specialist states, “which there isn’t in places like residential areas for obvious reasons (13). The Venus Flytrap is listed as a “Species of Special Concern'' in the Carolinas, and it will more than likely find its way to the endangered species list very soon.
There is no doubt that the absolute absurdity and beauty of the Venus Flytrap have made it a must-have collectible, but the words “must-have” and “collectible” do not do justice when describing a living organism. This culminates in a great deal of harm when those who “must” have one in their homes do not know how to take care of it. While the Venus Flytrap is known for its amazing differences from other plants, a common misconception is that Venus Flytraps only eat flies. This is not the case. To discourage overindulgence and overstimulation, a trap actually falls off its stem after about ten successful catches. When people spend all day feeding the plant flies, it overstimulates the plant, leading it to a very quick death. This has majorly contributed to the plant’s over-collection, poachers, and resulting scarcity. An arrest even made headlines in the Carolinas when poachers were charged with felony offenses after attempting to steal 970 plants, or 3% of the total population (12).
A large part of conservation, while obvious, is leaving things alone, especially if they are in their natural habitat. However, when you decide to buy plants like the Venus Flytrap, it is important to pay close attention to how it is presented in the store. Nursery-grown plants from a reputable vendor look very similar to one another--tall and strong and often presented in rich, black soil. Poached Venus Flytraps vary in both size and shape and are much smaller. They are also not found in rich, black soil but gravelly soil with small weeds in the mix (16).
Many petitions have been signed to put the plant officially on the endangered species list, and by taking note of how the plants look at the market and leaving them be in the wild, we can all work together to ensure that this beautiful, unique, slightly frightening, and, as Charles Darwin put it, “most wonderful plant in the world,” is taken off of the Nearly Gone List.
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