Potted Venus flytraps are grown for display on sunny windowsills and balconies, and are known as the carnivorous plants of the natural world.
Venus flytrap (perennial herbaceous plant)
Venus flytrap, (Dionaea muscipula), English name Venus Flytrap, is a perennial herbaceous plant native to North America and a very interesting insectivorous plant. Its stem is very short, and at the tip of the leaf grows a trap that closely resembles a "shell" and can secrete nectar; when a small insect intrudes, it can clamp it shut at extremely high speed, then digest and absorb it.
Because the leaf margins bear regular bristles, the feeling is just like Venus's eyelashes, meaning "Venus's flytrap." In Chinese and Japanese the Venus flytrap also has the alias "fly's hell" (ハエジゴク). Its main feature is the ability to close its leaves very rapidly to prey on insects; this is a carnivorous plant just like its distant relative the pitcher plant, and it is the only species in the genus Dionaea of the family Droseraceae, belonging to the vascular plants. Potted plants can be used for display on sunny windowsills and balconies, and can also be grown specially in planting troughs; the Venus flytrap is known as the carnivorous plant of the natural world. The Venus flytrap's unique insect-catching ability and cool appearance have made it the most favored insectivorous plant in China.
Morphological characteristics
The Venus flytrap (Catchfly) belongs to the vascular plants and is a very popular insectivorous plant, possessing complete roots, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds. Its leaves are the most important and obvious part, with the function of preying on insects; the obvious bristles and red sessile glands on the surface make it look like a gaping maw with bared teeth and claws. Potted plants can be used for display on sunny windowsills and balconies, and can also be grown specially in planting troughs; it is a perennial herbaceous plant native to North America.
It is said that because the leaf margins bear regular bristles, the feeling is just like Venus's eyelashes, hence the English name Venus Flytrap; it is the only species in the genus Dionaea of the family Droseraceae, and the Venus flytrap is known as the carnivorous plant of the natural world.
The Venus flytrap survives only on the coastal plain of southeastern South Carolina and the northeastern corner of North Carolina in the United States.
However, in its native habitat the Venus flytrap is threatened in its survival by human activity. Rapid population growth has deprived the Venus flytrap of living space, and because natural wildfires have been suppressed by human intervention, small shrubs have begun to grow in these areas, shading the Venus flytrap from sunlight. Therefore, the Venus flytrap has been introduced to other areas for reintroduction, such as New Jersey and California. In Florida it has successfully naturalized and become a very large population.
Leaves
The leaves of the Venus flytrap (Venus Flytrap) grow out from the center and are whorled leaves, appearing clustered in a rosette-like form. What grows from the center, flat or slender and wing-shaped, is the petiole part; the petiole of the wild species is flat like a leaf blade, and because it looks like a leaf instead, it is also called a false leaf.
At the end of the petiole is a trap, and this is the part of the leaf that actually catches insects. The upper surface bears many sessile glands, usually red or orange; the closer to the leaf margin, the fewer the sessile glands. This part secretes digestive fluid to break down insects or absorb their nutrients. The leaf margin bears tooth-like bristles, and at the base of the bristles are secretory glands that secrete mucus, whose function is to prevent insects from escaping and to seal the lobes together. This kind of leaf has the special function of catching insects and a special appearance, and belongs to the "insect-catching leaf" among metamorphosed leaves.
Because new leaves are always produced from the center, the outer the leaf, the older it is. New side shoots are sometimes produced at the base of the outermost petioles. The petiole of the Venus flytrap occurs in two forms: some Venus flytraps have slender petioles, reaching 7-16 cm long, and extend toward the air; others produce short, thick petioles that lie flat on the ground. The inner side of the trap usually shows a red color; most of these colors are pigments of the digestive glands, and when the plant receives sufficient sunlight it promotes the production of plant pigments. These colors range from orange-red to red-purple, and some cultivated Venus flytraps even produce pigment outside the digestive glands, thereby turning the whole plant red.
Flowers
The flowering period of the Venus flytrap (Venus Flytrap) is from early summer to midsummer. At first it grows flower stalks, and each flower stalk bears about five to ten flower buds, belonging to a standard corymb; white flowers open in sequence each day. In principle each plant produces only one flower stalk; if the growing environment is suitable and nutrients are sufficient, sometimes two flower stalks are produced. Normally there are five petals and five sepals, and occasionally there are variant plants with six petals. There are about a dozen stamens, and in the center there is one pistil with a forked stigma.
Self-pollination in the Venus flytrap is relatively rare, because when the anthers of the stamens produce pollen, the style of the pistil is in a closed state. Only when the stamens begin to lean outward does the stigma open and become forked, and only then is it in a state where pollination is possible. This type, in which the stamens mature first and the pistil develops later, is quite common in the plant kingdom, mainly to avoid self-pollination. The general technical term for such a flower is "Protandrous flower." Apart from the flower stalk, there is generally no taller part growing upward; the normal stem is short and hard to notice, and the petioles and leaves do not rise above the flower stalk. This is a characteristic of insectivorous plants. Because in addition to preying on insects to absorb their nutrients, they also need insects to assist in pollination for the continuation of the next generation, they belong to insect-pollinated flowers. Therefore the two parts, the supplementary leaves and the flowers, must be distinguished; it can be said that this is the natural wisdom nature has given them.
Growing environment
The Venus flytrap (Venus Flytrap) has the habit of preying on insects; such plants are generally called "carnivorous plants" or "insectivorous plants." As mentioned above, the prey-catching organ of the Venus flytrap is the leaf part. Most of these carnivorous plants grow in relatively nutrient-poor wetlands; in order to supplement insufficient nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphoric acid, they use specially evolved structures to prey on insects and digest their nutrients.
The native habitat of the Venus flytrap is grassland on wetlands, and the soil there is mostly peat and silica sand. Its water source is mainly rainwater; because rainwater mixes with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and falls to the ground, it creates an acidic environment, with a pH value of about pH 5-6. From this it can be seen that the Venus flytrap prefers places with abundant water and acidic environments as its medium.
The acidic soil plus the relatively low temperature hinders the growth of bacteria that decompose organic matter. With organic matter not being decomposed, the remains of plants such as sphagnum cannot fully decompose and instead rot; these rotting organic matters become peat, which is very lacking in nutrients. In addition, after being washed by rain for many years, trace elements have almost all been lost. So the native habitat of the Venus flytrap is a barren place where, besides insufficient nitrogen and phosphoric acid, the essential nutrients for growth, even trace elements are extremely insufficient.
The Venus flytrap is a perennial herbaceous plant. After the seed germinates, it reaches maturity after 4-5 years and can then flower and bear fruit. With good care, the Venus flytrap can live at least 20-30 years.
The Venus flytrap begins to flower shortly after growing new leaves in spring. It produces a flower stalk up to 15 to 25 cm tall, with about 10 flower buds at the top. A flower opens every other day, and the flower color is white. A flower can remain open for several days before pollination, but if pollination succeeds, the flower withers the next day, after which the ovary gradually swells and the fruit matures after about several weeks. The mature fruit contains several dozen black, teardrop-shaped seeds.
After flowering, when summer also arrives, the Venus flytrap continues to grow more leaves and larger traps; this is the season when the Venus flytrap needs to prey heavily, in order to store nutrients for the next year's flowering. The fruit set in late spring matures by midsummer, and the seeds that burst out germinate after some time. The young Venus flytrap first grows false leaves, then grows its first true leaf with a complete trap and begins its insect-catching life.
The leaf lifespan of the Venus flytrap is about several months in autumn (2-3 months), but only a few weeks in summer; old leaves gradually turn yellow, lose the ability to catch insects, and finally turn black and die, but new leaves still continue to emerge from the center. Throughout summer, the Venus flytrap continuously grows new leaves, until autumn, when it grows another kind of slower-growing leaf; by then most of the leaves grown in summer have also withered, and the Venus flytrap is ready to pass the winter. In winter, some very small traps still remain, but they have lost the ability to catch insects and are hardly used; when the climate is too severe, the leaves above ground all wither.
The prey-catching structure of the Venus flytrap is a clamp formed by a left-right symmetrical pair of leaf blades. This clamp-like structure is specialized from the leaf, while the leaf-shaped structure connecting to the trap is the petiole. Along the outer margin of the trap are arranged bristle-like hairs; these hairs are very soft and serve to prevent captured insects from escaping. When the trap catches an insect, the hairs at the two ends of the lobes interlock exactly, forming a cage so that the insect cannot escape.
The inner side of the trap is red, covered with many tiny red dots; these red dots are the digestive glands of the Venus flytrap. On the inner side of the trap, three pairs of fine hairs can be seen; these fine hairs are the trigger hairs of the Venus flytrap, used to detect whether an insect has walked to a position suitable for capture. Most traps bear only five pairs of trigger hairs, but traps with one to several extra trigger hairs may also occur.
Distribution range
The Venus flytrap (Venus Flytrap) survives only on the coastal plain of southeastern South Carolina and the northeastern corner of North Carolina in the United States. In its native Carolina, the Venus flytrap grows in moist sandy or peaty wetlands or swamps; these areas usually take the form of grassland with only scattered pines, so they are very open and can receive a large amount of sunlight. The climate here is warm and humid; in summer the days are hot and the nights remain warm, while winter is very cold but not so cold that it frequently snows.
However, in its native habitat the Venus flytrap is threatened in its survival by human activity. Rapid population growth has deprived the Venus flytrap of living space, and because natural wildfires have been suppressed by human intervention, small shrubs have begun to grow in these areas, shading the Venus flytrap from sunlight. Therefore, the Venus flytrap has been introduced to other areas for reintroduction, such as New Jersey and California. However, in Florida it has successfully naturalized and become a very large population.
The Venus flytrap is native to the east coast of North America, and its natural native habitats are mainly in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida; the growing environment it favors is humid areas. Many local areas are alluvial landforms, and summers are hot while winters are cold, with large day-night temperature differences, belonging to a typical continental climate; these are all environmental conditions suitable for the Venus flytrap's growth.
The United States has designated all its native habitats as protected areas, and even in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora it is expressly stipulated that "the tubers and bulbs of the Venus flytrap" are completely prohibited from export and sale. However, because many plants had already flowed out before that, and through active cultivation by growers around the world, even mass production using tissue culture techniques, the Venus flytrap is now generally easy to buy on the market.
Prey-catching method
Secreting nectar
The habits of insectivorous plants are broadly divided into the following four steps: luring insects, catching insects, using digestive fluid to break down and absorb, and using the absorbed nutrients to maintain growth. However, not all carnivorous plants go through such a complete process; for example, some plants of the same type do not secrete digestive fluid but instead rely on various microorganisms to break down matter before absorbing nutrients. In this respect the Venus flytrap belongs to the relatively advanced carnivorous plants with a fairly complete process.
The leaf margins of the Venus flytrap contain nectaries, which secrete nectar to lure insects close. When an insect enters the leaf surface and touches the trigger hairs, which are sensory organs, twice, the two leaf lobes close very rapidly. The bristles growing on the leaf margins are multicellular projections and have no bending function. When the leaf closes very rapidly to clamp the insect, the bristles interlock tightly, and their purpose is to prevent the insect from escaping.
Signal transmission
The signal for catching insects is not provided directly by the trigger hairs. At the base of each trigger hair there is a swollen part containing a group of sensory cells. The trigger hair acts like a lever; the insect pushes the trigger hair, causing the trigger hair to press on the sensory cells, and the sensory cells then send out a weak electric current to notify all the cells on the trap. Because the current spreads throughout the entire trap, triggering closure does not require touching the same trigger hair; as long as any two trigger hairs in the same trap send out current, the closing movement can be triggered. Of course, the current sent out by the trigger hairs affects only the trap it is in and does not interfere with the operation of other traps on the same plant.
Before being stimulated, the trap is open at a 60-degree angle; when stimulated by an insect, the trap closes with its leaf veins as the axis. The closing of the trap is related to the contraction of the cells on the trap. When the cells on the trap receive the current sent out by the sensory cells, the vacuoles of the cells on its inner side rapidly lose water and contract, causing the trap to bend inward and thus close.
Closure of the trap
The closure of the trap is a precisely controlled process. This process begins when an insect touches a trigger hair located on the trap. The condition that triggers closure is that, in one trap, any single trigger hair is touched twice, or two trigger hairs are touched respectively. The time interval between touches of the trigger hairs has a decisive influence on closure: if the interval between the two touches is within 20-30 seconds, it can close; if this period is exceeded, a third successful stimulation is needed for it to close.
The trap needs two stimulations in order to confirm that the insect has walked to the proper position. When the trap receives the first stimulation, the insect has only just slightly entered the trap; if the trap closed then, it would only clamp part of the insect, and the insect would have a great chance of escaping. When the trap receives the second stimulation, the insect has almost walked into the inside of the trap, and the trap that closes then can firmly grasp the insect and shut it inside the trap.
The closing process is divided into two stages.
First stage: the clamp closes rapidly in order to catch the insect; at this time the trap only clamps the insect.
Second stage: the trap contracts inward so that the inner side of the trap can get as close to the insect as possible; at this time the trap is completely sealed, leaving no gap at all.
Digestion and absorption
The clamp remains closed for several days to a dozen or so days, during which the insect is digested by the digestive fluid secreted by the glands distributed on the trap. After the insect has been digested, the trap opens again, waiting for the next prey. The remaining insect shell that cannot be digested is carried away by wind and rain. The second stage requires the insect's struggling to proceed, because only then does it prove that what the trap has caught is indeed an insect, a living prey.
The Venus flytrap sometimes mistakenly catches dead twigs and fallen leaves. Without this confirmation mechanism, it would inevitably waste nutrients digesting undigestible debris. If the trap mistakenly catches debris, as long as there is no continued stimulation, it will reopen after several hours and wait for the next prey.
When an insect is caught and clamped by the two leaf lobes and cannot escape, the insect's struggling causes the lobes to clamp tighter and tighter until they are almost sealed. At this time the dense inner glands on the inner side of the two lobes secrete digestive fluid. Using the protease contained in this digestive fluid, the insect's proteins are broken down into amino acids composed mainly of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, and possibly other elements as well, and then absorbed. Generally it takes about four days to complete the breakdown and absorb the more easily digested parts, after which it continues to absorb the remaining nitrogen, phosphorus and various other needed trace elements. After all these nutrients have been absorbed, the lobes open again. The whole process takes about 5-10 days, and by then only the empty shell remains of the insect, made of chitin.
However, the Venus flytrap cannot distinguish the size of what it has caught, and sometimes it may catch prey about the same size as the leaf, such as a small frog or a long-legged wasp. In this case it often cannot break down and absorb the prey in time, and the prey itself rots first, so the leaf withers as if from food poisoning. In addition, each leaf can catch about 12-18 times and digest 3-4 times; beyond this number the leaf loses its insect-catching ability, makes its due contribution to the final photosynthesis, and then gradually withers.
Insect-catching speed
When an insect visits for nectar and touches a trigger hair for the first time, the leaf does not make any movement, but if it is stimulated twice in succession, the leaf closes immediately within an average of about 0.5 seconds (though some artificially bred horticultural varieties cannot reach this speed). If the time of the second touch differs from the time of the first touch by more than about 20 seconds, the leaf will half-close or show no reaction. If a third stimulation is given immediately at this time, the leaf will also close rapidly.
Through experimental investigation, the trigger hair of the Venus flytrap acts like a sensing device; after the stimulation of two successive touches, the base of the leaf generates an action potential of about 100 millivolts (mV) to the leaf surface, causing the water on the inner side of the leaf to be rapidly lost, resulting in unequal internal and external pressure, so the leaf closes. Such a prey-catching mechanism is a very precisely coordinated set of structures, and stimulating the trigger hairs is like setting a timing device, so that it only closes after the second confirmation. The main purpose is to improve the accuracy of prey capture; otherwise, things such as raindrops or animals passing by would reduce and affect its prey-catching efficiency.
Through plant researchers it has been confirmed that the Venus flytrap emits action potentials, a mechanism similar to how animal nerve tissue generates and transmits information. However, because this must be triggered by two successive touches, that means there should also be a tissue capable of memory. Plant researchers still do not understand how such memory operates in the Venus flytrap; this is an unsolved mystery.
Insectivorous plants set a trap, then begin the killing. When the tiny hairs of the Venus flytrap are touched twice, it suddenly snaps shut with a "snap."
Propagation methods
Sexual propagation method
The Venus flytrap reproduces by seeds and belongs to the seed plants. The Venus flytrap can self-pollinate, but usually hand pollination is required to reliably set fruit. However, hand pollination of the Venus flytrap does not necessarily succeed, because the timing of pollination is wrong.
When the flower of the Venus flytrap opens, the stamens and pistil do not mature at the same time. When the flower first opens, its stamens have already matured, but the pistil has not yet matured, and pollinating it at this time is useless. The pistil of the Venus flytrap usually matures one day later than the stamens, so the correct approach is to wait until the second day after the flower opens
before carrying out pollination. We can also observe the form of the pistil to judge whether it is mature. The stigma at the tip of an immature pistil is round, while the stigma at the tip of a mature pistil splits open, like cotton fluff; only a mature pistil can be successfully pollinated.
If pollination succeeds, the flower withers within 1-2 days, and the ovary (the base of the pistil) swells; after several more weeks the fruit can mature. The seeds of the Venus flytrap are black and teardrop-shaped; one fruit usually contains a dozen or so seeds. The number of seeds is related to the health and size of the plant itself; robust plants usually can set more seeds. Sometimes the pollination method is correct, but seeds still fail to form; the biggest problem is that the Venus flytrap is not robust enough, or that during the flowering period it has not continuously received enough light. At such times, even if pollination succeeds, it is difficult to set seeds.
The seeds of the Venus flytrap do not keep well, so it is best to sow them as early as possible after harvest. Sometimes, if you want cross-pollination between different plants but the plants to be crossed are not flowering at the same time, you can first collect the pollen and store it in the refrigerator to extend the pollen's lifespan.
Because flowering is a nutrient-consuming activity for the plant, if it is not necessary, do not let the Venus flytrap flower, especially when you want to grow a very large Venus flytrap; the flower stalks it puts out should be cut off as early as possible to prevent the Venus flytrap from consuming nutrients on flowering. Because the Venus flytrap flowers when the season arrives, some weakened plants will also flower reluctantly, but to protect the plant, it is still better to cut off the flower stalks.
Leaf cutting method
The commonly used propagation method for the Venus flytrap is leaf cutting, that is, inserting a section of petiole into the soil so that a new plant can grow. From late spring to early summer, in the season of vigorous growth for the Venus flytrap, after digging the Venus flytrap out of the soil, we can see its white lobe-shaped petioles buried in the soil. Peel off the trap together with the petiole (the leaf-like part), along with the white base of the petiole, then place these petioles on the growing medium, maintain high humidity and give bright light, and after several weeks new shoots will emerge.
The process of new shoot formation is very slow, so you must wait patiently. As long as the base of the petiole has not turned black or rotted, you should keep waiting. Because the petiole at this stage no longer has roots, maintaining humidity is very important; the moist growing medium must be able to cling to the petiole to provide water. The light intensity at this time is also very important; bright and sufficient light is needed, but sunlight must not shine directly, otherwise the petiole will become too hot and dry out. The age of the petiole is also related to the success rate of propagation; usually petioles in their prime are relatively plump and have the greatest chance of producing seedlings; old leaves and young leaves are relatively unlikely to produce new shoots. Therefore, when propagating, we can use the ring of petioles on the outer edge of the Venus flytrap, and the remaining center can still be planted back; if the petiole can carry roots, the chance of success will be higher.
In order to reduce damage to the petioles, using a clean growing medium is less likely to make the petioles rot, so it is recommended to use sphagnum as the growing medium for leaf cuttings, and wait until the small seedlings grow before considering transplanting them elsewhere.
Division method
The Venus flytrap often grows side shoots; as long as the side shoot has grown large enough and has complete roots, it can be separated from the mother plant and grown on its own (but some artificially cultivated varieties rarely divide throughout the year).
Flower bud method
The flower bud of the Venus flytrap sometimes turns into a plant! It is already known that this phenomenon is caused by temperature differences. If the day-night temperature difference is very large, it will induce the flower bud of the Venus flytrap to transform into a new plant; at this time this small plant can be cut off and planted in soil, and it becomes another new Venus flytrap.
Cultivation techniques
Light: a swamp plant, its native environment has no tall plants for shade, and it likes sunlight. When grown at home, it can receive full sun in spring, autumn and winter; in southern summers it should be given 50% shade or placed on an indoor sunny windowsill. Alternatively, use a plant grow light (red-to-blue ratio 2:1) at 15-30 cm above the plant for artificial light cultivation, with an illumination time of 4 hours/day.
Water: use soft water such as purified water or rainwater as much as possible (tap water can be used in southern China). Use the tray method (called the "waist water" method in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China) to create a small environment similar to the native habitat. The specific method is: place the Venus flytrap's pot in a tray or glass tank, add water to a depth of 1-2 cm, and replenish the water regularly. (Note: in summer, the waist water method easily causes root rot.)
Humidity: greater than 50%. The native environment of the Venus flytrap is a swamp-type grassland with relatively high humidity. If a large water tray can be used for the waist water method, the nearby humidity will be a little higher. You can also add a layer of sphagnum on the surface soil of the pot, which also helps maintain air humidity.
Substrate: keep the substrate acidic at pH 3.5-5. Use fertilizer-free peat and perlite at 2:1 or pure sphagnum; replace the substrate once a year in spring as much as possible.
Temperature: growth temperature 15°C-35°C, suitable temperature: 21-35°C. In winter, if you want it to go dormant, it must be kept at about 5°C (0-8°C). But according to many years of cultivation experience, not going through dormancy has no obvious effect on normal growth the following year.
Feeding: please do not force them to eat too much; they will catch prey on their own. At most, feed arthropods (insects, spiders, etc.) on only 2 leaves. Their digestive fluid can hardly digest the fat in meats people commonly eat, such as beef and chicken.
Fertilizing: the root system of insectivorous plants is extremely intolerant of salt; applying fertilizer directly into the substrate will cause the plant to die, so low-concentration liquid fertilizer should be sprayed on the leaves. If using commercially sold foliage plant fertilizer, apply it at 1/5 of the recommended concentration (1:5000), spraying once every 2 weeks during the growing season.
Growing medium
1. The Venus flytrap prefers a growing medium with good water retention that is acidic. You can directly use peat soil or sphagnum to grow it, that is, use only a single growing medium. However, sphagnum is more expensive and has a shorter service life, but it is cleaner than other growing media, so sphagnum is more suitable as a growing medium for leaf cuttings or small seedlings. Larger Venus flytraps are more suitable for using the lower-cost peat soil. Some peat soil is finer in texture, so using only peat soil may cause poor drainage and easy waterlogging. We can add a small amount of perlite or granular soil to the peat soil, or mix peat soil and sand in a 1:1 ratio. In fact, in its native habitat the Venus flytrap grows on sandy land, and a growing medium made by mixing sand and peat soil may be the best choice. Because the Venus flytrap likes an acidic growing medium, choose quartz sand, silica sand or river sand for the sand; do not use sand containing calcium, such as coral sand or shell sand.
2. The fresher the seeds, the higher the germination rate. Place the seeds in a sealed transparent container with sphagnum inside; scatter the seeds on the surface of the sphagnum (remember not too densely). The humidity should be such that the sphagnum does not drip water (meaning the maximum saturation of the sphagnum). Cover with plastic wrap, poke a few small holes in the plastic wrap with a toothpick, and place it in a place with strong light but no direct sunlight. Seeds of better quality germinate in about one week. When the plant height or diameter is about 2 cm, transplant it into an ordinary flowerpot; after transplanting it still needs acclimatization.
Sowing steps
Prepare the flowerpot for sowing: fill the flowerpot with substrate, then place it in a glass tank or water basin containing purified water, so that the substrate absorbs water until the surface is moist, then use a spray bottle to spray the surface moist (mist spray).
Sowing: carefully open the seed packet, evenly scatter the seeds on the surface of the substrate, and cover with 0.3 cm of culture soil.
Spraying water: use a spray bottle to spray the surface moist (mist spray), spraying carefully so that the seeds are not washed away.
Cultivation: place the flowerpot with the sown seeds together with the glass tank or water basin on the inner side of a sunny windowsill; if it is a water basin, add a plastic cover with an opening at the top to retain moisture. Be careful to replenish water in time; germination generally occurs in about 10 days (at 20 degrees).
Seedling establishment: when the seedlings grow 2-3 true leaves, they can be transplanted.
Seedling stage management
Substrate preparation: use clean sphagnum as the substrate, and soak it for at least 24 hours before transplanting (boiling water is best, to remove pathogens and weed seeds). When transplanting, squeeze the water out of the sphagnum (or spin it dry in a spin dryer), and it is ready for planting.
Tissue-culture seedling preparation: use clean water to wash off the culture medium on the tissue-culture seedlings (during washing and transplanting, pay attention to keeping the plant moist and do not let the plant's leaves wilt); tissue-culture seedlings are not soaked in chemicals.
Transplanting: wrap the base of the plant with sphagnum (not too high; it is appropriate to wrap the root area), with a certain firmness (when pinched with fingers, it can sink and then spring back to shape). After transplanting, water thoroughly with clean water to settle the roots.
Species classification
In its native habitat, the Venus flytrap has only one native species (Dionaea muscipula) and a few forma variants (Dionaea muscipula f. viridis
etc.), and their appearances are relatively uniform. However, in the process of propagating the Venus flytrap by methods such as tissue culture or sowing, a very small number of Venus flytraps will mutate, causing some of their forms to differ from before the mutation. When these mutated characteristics stably appear in the next generation, they can be called a new variety, and the many mutated varieties are precisely one of the greatest pursuits of enthusiasts who like Venus flytraps.
There are already more than 600 horticultural varieties of the Venus flytrap, most of which are mutated varieties that appeared through tissue culture; in addition there are many hybrid varieties, and at the same time plants germinated from seeds may also mutate.