Venus Flytrap (Dionaea) General Information
The Venus Flytrap is without a doubt the most well known of all the carnivorous plants. Dionaea Muscipula are armed with a trap that snaps shut so quickly that they're among some of the fastest responding organisms on the planet! Without a doubt, these traps represent the most obvious cases of plant movement. It makes sense why this plant has managed to capture the intrigue of people around the world.
Venus Flytraps have an instantly recognizable name that very poignantly describes the plant's behavior. Strangely, throughout history the Venus reference has become more obscure to growers now. Historically, they went by the name tipitiwitchet. This has one of two meaning with one coming from English language and one from a Native American tribal language of the Renape. Tipitiwitchet from the English context is a combination of tippet and witchet. Tippets are a piece of clothing worn over the shoulder. Witchet being an archaic word for female genitalia, for which the traps were said to resemble. The Renape context means “they which wind around”. I have a theory the Renape word was adopted by colonist because the of different cultural context being relevant for both groups. Nothing supports this this theory at this time and is only my wild speculation. In 1768 John Ellis established the common name Venus's Flytrap and scientific name Dionaea Muscipula in a letter to Carl Linnaeus. Dionaea refers to the greek god Aphrodite from the Greek Pantheon, meaning daughter of Dione. Aphrodite is known as Venus in the Roman Pantheon. Muscipula is a can be interchanged as mousetrap or flytrap.
Dionaea's exact time of human discovery is unknown. In 1759, North Carolina's colonial governor, Arthur Dobbs, wrote the first description of the plant known by English botanist Peter Colinson. In the ten years after more descriptions made it to England which inspired botanists to start studying this plant. Note that the notion of Venus Flytraps being carnivorous was not a serious consideration, but it's behavior raised many questions that rippled through the botanical world.
Venus Flytraps grow throughout an area on the border between North and South Carolina. Historically this was a decent range that had populations much denser than we see today. An estimated 93% reduction in the range of wild Venus Flytraps happened since 1979. Currently the species is up for review to be protected by the Endangered Species List, but this process in ongoing at the time of writing. The future is likewise grim, with only a small number of habitats likely to survive the next century.
Venus Flytraps occur mainly in boggy and acidic conditions, typically near peat or pine trees that supplement the acidity. They try to occur in areas where only grasses are their major competition for sunlight, so typically some distance away from large trees. Clearings through pine forests for power lines make ideal habitat, as the tracks from trucks provides a ditch to retain water. Isolated populations can exist around small pools of water, lakes, or in wider wetland habitat as long as sufficient acidity and sunlight are provided.
Venus Flytraps sport one of the most visually impressive traps of all carnivorous plants. The two lobes that comprise the trap have three small trigger hairs near the center areas. When these hairs are triggered twice within a 3 second time frame, the trap snaps shut. Interestingly, the reaction that happens to cause this is an electrical signal from the trap to the rhizome and back again. This then causes water pressure within the leaves to change rapidly which causes the snapping motion seen. Teeth-like projections line the edges of the trap. This allows small prey to escape while still trapping large prey. This helps the plant save energy from digesting prey that's not big enough to justify the effort. The wiggling and writhing of the prey signals the trap to close tighter and eventually seal. If rain or a small prey set off the traps, they'll reset over the course of a few days. These traps have a lifespan of 2-5 uses, depending on the kind of prey captured and amount of misfires. Venus Flytraps tend to limit the amount of active traps present to around 5-7, opting to kill off older traps near the ground to make way for a newer more fresh trap to replace it.
Interestingly, it's been noted that flytraps with previous meals still present lure spiders into their traps. Venus Flytraps grow rather close to the ground, making them not the most ideal design for capturing flying prey. Instead, the traps are much more suited to capturing ground dwelling insects like spiders. Spiders often get captured with their legs sticking out, with the teeth of the trap keeping the body inside. This makes their escape extremely difficult and gives the teeth a dual purpose in both trapping prey and allowing small escapees.
Venus Flytrap Conservation
The issues facing Venus Flytraps are complex. On one hand, the plants are declining rapidly in the wild with major range reductions. On the other hand is the complex issue that Venus Flytraps are also globally present in the nursery trade as a rather common plant. It's a strange case where more individuals exist in cultivation than likely live in the wild at this point. This is why I'm hopeful that they'll receive some kind of protection under the Endangered Species Act. There's major implications to the nursery industry as a result, as the promotion to Endangered Species status requires special permits to sell across state lines. I suspect that if they are put onto the Endangered Species List that they will become much less common throughout the industry. This is likely one of the major factors at play in Venus Flytrap's status, making for an incredibly complex situation. If the Endangered Species Act is applied, it could have an effect where Venus Flytraps become less prevalent as a houseplant and more likely to go extinct from unavoidable habitat loss.
As far as habitat loss goes, Venus Flytraps suffer the same major problem almost every carnivorous plant near human settlements suffers. Real Estate Developers often are able to purchase large swaths of habitat, drain them, and build new homes or other buildings. Even building in areas around parks and preserves dedicated to their protection can fall victim to hydrologic changes from nearby developments draining the land. By irrigating and draining a nearby swamp, the water level can change in a protected one. The developers are usually ignorant to their damaging effects and the legal structure of current protections might not be enough to prevent the developments' effects on the environment.
To leave you with some hope in all this doom and gloom, there are populations that are well protected and currently thriving. New laws at the state level are providing much stronger protections from poaching and have been successful at bringing modern Venus Flytrap poachers to justice. While not perfect, any new attempts to protect these wonderful plants should be applauded.
Dionaea Muscipula Genus Section Breakdown
Venus Flytraps exist in a genus by themselves, which makes it hard to go into depth on. Since this entire section is dedicated Venus Flytraps, it seems strange to repeat the same information here. Instead, I'd like to discuss their relationships to other Genera and Families. Genetic studies have been shining light onto their evolutionary history and is incredibly interesting.
Venus Flytraps are in the family of Droseracaea. This includes Aldrovanda and Drosera. Venus Flytraps broke off from modern Drosera, opting to turn the sticky trap that wraps around prey into a much quicker snap trap. The glands that form the dew stalks from drosera are identical to the small arrays of glands that form the red interior of the Dionaea trap. The rosette shape is also a trait passed from Drosera to the modern Flytrap.
Moving to a more macro view of the order, Caryophyllales, we can see that Droseracaea is closely related to Nepentheaceae, Drosophyllaceae, and Triphyophyllumacea. These are the families for Nepenthes, Drosophyllum, and Triphyophyllum. It seems that the Drosera like traps seen on Triphyophyllum are likely similar to the ancient plant that produced these families. Likewise, the leaves of Triphyophyllum Peltatum bear a strikingly similar resemblance to Nepenthes leaf structures.
With this view, the strange evolutionary history of this corner of the Plant Kingdom becomes a little more clear. These plant families all originated from Pangea, particularly around areas touching Africa. As continental drift split them apart, they all adapted to the new conditions overtime and evolving into the wide variety we see today. Millions of years can pressure a plant to either become a flytrap or a pitcher plant!
Lifecycle
Venus Flytrap seeds typically fall from the mother plants in the late summer into the fall. Germination rates are low at first, as winter would kill off any small plants. The freezing weather of winter causes a chemical reaction in the seed to signal growth when warm weather returns in spring. As temperatures rise moving from winter to spring the seeds will sprout.
Venus Flytraps take a rather long time to get to full maturity. It's often 3-5 years from seed to flower in most conditions. In perfect conditions it will take around 2-3 years. This means that the seedlings will start munching on bugs they can. Light and food availability heavily influence the speed with which Dionaea will grow. Towards the end of their first year of life, the plants will undergo their first dormancy.
Dormancy in Venus Flytraps varies heavily based on the location they are growing. In their natural range, growth starts to slow in the Fall when colder temperatures start to kill off the insect populations. Usually by the first frost the signs of dormancy are readily apparent. Traps and the leaves will blacken, starting from the tips. New growth slows and eventually stops as the seasons progress. During this time, the central rhizome will still look green and healthy. This stage is when most fungal infections will attack the plants. As they've stocked up with sugars for winter, they're a prime target for fungus that can survive the cold. When spring is nearing, the plants will slowly resume growth if the temperature is high enough to prevent freezing.
After 3-5 years of cycling through growth and dormancy, Venus Flytraps in the wild will start to produce flowers and divisions. Flowering starts before the plant will grow new traps, with the flower stalk being the first sign of new growth out of dormancy. This stalk will grow 6-8 inches away from the plant, with exceedingly vigorous specimens producing potentially longer stalks. The white flowers are arranged together in small stalks and open up one by one to give an amazing display that lasts only a handful of days and sometimes over a week. After the flowering has wrapped up, adult plants will resume normal growth. Often at this time, healthy and mature specimens will produce small divisions off their rhizome. This makes older specimens in the wild appear to have clumps of Venus Flytraps growing in extremely cross proximity.
Cultivation History
Venus Flytraps are usually seen as difficult to keep, which is not the case. If you can recreate the conditions of the Carolinas you'll have success. This is true of any space you try to grow these plants. Despite the regressive mindsets of a good portion of the online community, Venus Flytraps can be grown in a wide variety of ways. Since the 1990's, cultivation has moved more indoors and with LED lighting being affordable, the reality of growing a Venus Flytrap inside has become a possibility. To drive this home, lets look at the history of Venus Flytrap cultivation.
After their discovery by colonist in the 1760's, Venus Flytraps quickly ended up in greenhouses and botanical gardens across Europe. Towards the turn of the century into the 1900's, they were one of the more rare plants during the Victorian era plant craze. The lack of lighting being a primary reason for why they were not more prevalent. As houseplants feel out of favor moving into World War 2, so did the availability of Venus Flytraps.
It wasn't until after the war that a resurgence in mail order nurseries offering small Venus Flytrap rhizomes. These curiosities were advertised in a wide variety of magazines, usually in science fiction or weird science publications. The average Venus Flytrap grower would grow using terrariums from the 1940's-1980's. The knowledge of the houseplant enthusiasts of the Victorian Era had fallen through the cracks of collective society. Terrarium growing was used a crutch from the nursery companies to allow the Flytraps at least some higher than ambient humidity. Those growers with sunny windows would have some measure of success, particularly in temperate areas.
I have to point out, during this time and even onwards to today, the nurseries producing these plants were using techniques that the general public wasn't being informed about in their care directions. It's why I'm taking so much time to explain the whole situation in context, because this is truly where a lot of misinformation comes from. Nurseries often produce Venus Flytraps in large greenhouses or outside if the climate allows. I suspect one of two business decisions happened to cause the disconnect. Some nurseries anticipate that their customers will kill their plants no matter what, opting to misled consumers with directions guaranteed to kill their plants to ensure they have to buy a new one next year. The other less malicious group likely misunderstood the lasting impact of poorly worded directions to their customers. Got to remember, most nursery owners aren't known for being authors or for their technical writing abilities.
This leads us to the more modern era of Venus Flytrap cultivation. Peter D'amato's book, The Savage Garden, outlined his more production focused outdoor growing methods. He opted to leak how nursery owners actual grow Dionaea for production. This led to a huge uptick in bog gardeners including Venus Flytraps and a large amount of new producers to start replicating the method. New grow guides instructed people to grow outside, however it seems the older methods fell to the wayside. This is despite Peter mentioning how to best grow Venus Flytraps in terrariums or windowsills as it was the common growing practice prior to his book. With so few book sources on cultivating carnivorous plants, the online communities latched onto outdoor growing as the only viable method. This has been the primary method for growers from the 1990's to today.
Since 2006 on, LED lighting fixtures have become more available and affordable. Panels can be as cheap as $30 with a fraction of the electrical costs of older lighting technology with more output. This has led to a few growers experimenting indoors, going against the mainstream of Carnivorous Plant growers. As more and more reports have surfaced from that time on, has led me to growing Venus Flytraps indoors. The International Carnivorous Plant Society has had in both their newsletter and on their website that Flytraps can be grown indoors successfully since 2008.