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The paper
S. Scherzer et al., “Venus flytrap trigger hairs are micronewton mechano-sensors that can detect small insect prey,” Nat Plants, 5:670–75, 2019.
The “mouth” of a Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) bears several trigger hairs, multicellular spikes that send electrical impulses across the lobes of the trap when bent by contact with an object. Sönke Scherzer, who studies the plants at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, says he’ll often gift Venus flytraps to his students and instruct them to feed the plants. Initially, the trap will close on a bit of cheese or a dead insect, but, to the frustration of the students, it will reopen after a few hours, indifferent to the gift. That’s because the initial stimulus doesn’t fully seal the trap and launch the digestive process; complete closure requires sustained wiggling for another minute. Scherzer says this avoids the plant wasting digestive resources ...
