Foliar feeding – the Venus Flytrap
by Lewis, 13 July, 2017, 1 comments
The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula ) is a carnivorous plant found in the wetlands of North and South Carolina in the United States. The Venus flytrap is also popular as a cultivated plant and an 'object of interest' and can be found in many a garden centre.
In the wild, the fly trap is found in areas with nutrient-deficient soils (often low in nitrate and phosphate). The plant makes up for the ‘edaphic* limitations’ by trapping and digesting insects (and spiders) in their specialised leaf traps. By doing so, they are able to extract nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen which are in limited supply in the soil - from the bodies of their prey. The ‘Dionaea diet’ is, in fact, 33% ants, 30% spiders (which are arachnids - not insects), 10% beetles and 10% grasshoppers - only a small percentage are actually flying insects. Read more...
