A SINGLE SPECIES

Dionaea muscipula,
and recentrly obtained cultivars.

USUAL NAME

Venus flytrap

FAMILY

Droseraceae

 
History and etymology

If the native American are probably the first observers, the governor of North Carolina, A. Dobbs, made for the first time the plant in a letter to the naturalist Collinson in 1759. In England, J. Ellis described the plant and named it Dionaea muscipula in 1768. C. Linnaeus described it a year later as a "Miraculum Naturae" but declined the principle of carnivorous plant. Subsequently several experiments were made, and the work of C. Darwin clarified the existence of carnivorous plants. The name derives from Dionaea Greek mythology Dione who is a nymph Oceans, she is the mother of Aphrodite, his daughter sometimes wears his name.

Distribution

Only in North America, it is located in the states of North and South Carolina. The area of the Dionaea extends from the city of Greenville to the north-east to the south of Georgetown and a radius of 30-100 km to the east and west axis.

Biotope

The plant grows in wet meadows, sandy area with very low organic matter. The warm climate where temperatures can reach 46 °C in the summer, becom cool in winter with minimum of -10 °C. Rainfall in the area can reach 128 cm per year. Other genera of plants such as Drosera, Pinguicula, Sarracenia, Pinus, can grow in the same sites.

Description

Small perennial herbaceous perennial plant, 10 cm to 15 cm in diameter with a pseudobulb. The green leaves jaws-shapped have cilia on their margins. The traps consist of a hinged leaves that close in less than a second.

The prey are mostly insects, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, but also consist of molluscs, small amphibians.

The flowers are hanged on scapes of 15-25 cm high. They are white and their number is variable (1-15).

Dionaea with giant traps more than 5 cm

Very rare
Dionaea ''snow white''