How Does The Venus Flytrap Lure And Consume Insects?

It was only a couple of years ago that I realized that the plant from A Little Shop of Horrors actually has a real life counterpart–the venus flytrap. This plant is aptly named for its preference for eating flies. For those of you who have never heard of a venus flytrap, it could be described as a flower with a mouth, or like a mix between a clam and a plant. The plant is an herbivore, which basically means that the venus flytrap is a predator plant. So how does this bizarre plant catch its prey?

The VFT catches its prey by fooling flying insects into thinking that it is just a regular flower to be pollinated, and not a horrifying plant with a mouth that chomps on its prey. The mouth of the VFT is coated with a velvety material that resembles a flower visually, and there are glands located around this material that secrete small amounts of nectar, which many flying insects are attracted to.

Once the insect begins to inspect the supposed flower, the insect will set off sensors in the form of hair-like structures lining the front of the VFT’s mouth. In not much time the insect will strike enough sensors causing the VFT’s mouth to come clamping shut onto the poor insect. Digestion takes days, and once the insect is digested, only a “shadow skeleton” is left over to blow away in the wind.

Have you ever encountered a venus flytrap catching prey? And is it accurate to call this plant organism a “predator?”