Venus Fly Traps - Dionaea muscipula - Carnivorous Plant Seeds

The Venus Fly Trap is the most famous of all carnivorous plants due  to the active and efficient nature of its unique traps. Since Darwin first described the plant in 18?? the plant has mystified scientist and botanists worldwide. Most early scientists believed the plant to be a  myth until physical proof of such a plants existence was offered. The Venus Fly Trap has no cousins and is the only member of the Dionaea genus.

The VFT produces a short fleshy leaf that carries a modified tip that forms two sides of the trap, each side contains three hairs which when touched two to three times causes the two sides to spring shut in a very rapid motion fast enough to catch flies and other insects. The leaf once closed then exudes a series of enzymes that slowly dissolve the internal juices of the insect and hence supply the plant with food. After a few days the trap re-opens leaving the skeleton of the insect to be washed out by the rain. If no insect is caught by the trap the leaves re-open within a few hours to prepare for the next insect to arrive. The VFT comes from soils that are very poor in nutrients so the plant has adapted itself to finding nutrients from other means rather than starve. VFT's can easily grow without ever eating insects.

There is only one species of Dionaea but there many varietal forms of this single species and many collectors specialize in collecting these varieties