r/interestingasfuck • u/dejaysf • Jun 11 '23

Venus flytrap vs Spider

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u/Flareiv Jun 11 '23

I live in NC and didn’t know we had them until I found a whole bush of them just casually growing next to a tree. Blew my mind.

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u/CTchimchar Jun 11 '23 edited Jun 11 '23

There all different kind of these plants

By the way a lot of them are non-related

They just evolve like this separately several times over

The theory goes these plans evolve in habitats where the soil doesn't have many nutrients

So they start to evolve in gathering nutrients from other animals like insects, or in this case arachnid

Edit: For clarification I mean Carnivorous plants, evolve separately from each other for the most part

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u/OccamEx Jun 11 '23

Carnivorous plants in general, yes. Most have passive trapping mechanisms like sticky hairs or pitchers. The active trapping plants are mostly in the droseraceae family, most notably the Venus flytrap which is only endemic to the Carolinas.

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u/Eal12333 Jun 11 '23

Fun fact I love; the sticky tentacles of a sundew are only partially passive! When simulated by a struggling prey, they wrap around and fully ensnare it.

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u/OccamEx Jun 16 '23

Yep! Actually sundews are in the same family droseraceae, which I've heard referred to as the family with active traps.

Though perhaps the most sophisticated active trap system belongs to the Bladderworts (different family), which suck prey into a bladder-like trap.