The Plight Of The Venus Flytrap

The Plight of the Venus Flytrap

Joseph Parish

There are many endangered species around our nation and many are animals and usually the plants are ignored. In this rant I have experienced a strong pull towards discussing plants and as such I have decided to use the Dionaea muscipula or as it is commonly known as the Venus Flytrap as my subject of conversation. I will not at this time delve into the various orders of plants or the classes which would lead us to the Fly trap, but I will merely mention that this carnivorous plant has an interesting morphology and environmental adaptation.

The Venus Flytrap gathers its needed nutrients from gases contained in the surrounding air and soil. These unusual plants grow in poor soil and are healthier if they obtain their nutrients from the insect population. Although one can discover carnivorous plants residing anywhere in the world the Venus Fly trap is native to the boggy areas of North and South Carolina. Due to the fascination with these plant people would visit the bog areas and collect as many of these tiny plants as they could, leading the Flytrap to the edge of distinction and endangering its existence.

The leaves of this plant will open, revealing its stiff hairs often referred to as triggers. In the event that anything touches these triggers the leaves of the plant will snap shut and trap whatever is inside. It takes a mere second or less for the leaves to close. Upon observation of the fly trap in action one initially witnesses that the leaves do not close completely. It has been suggested that perhaps this action is to permit extremely small insects to escape since they would not allow sufficient amounts of food for the plant. It is interesting that if a nut or a stone were to trigger the leaves to close, the trap will reopen in twelve hours and 'spit the object out. If a large insect is trapped it may extend beyond the closed leaves which would allow mold and bacteria to form on it. Ultimately the mold will cause the leaf to turn black; it will rot and eventually fall off the plant.

Because of the Flytraps unusual feeding characteristics and its popularity with the curious it has been placed on the endangered species list. The only way to obtain a Venus Flytrap is to buy a cloned plant. A Venus Fly Tarp is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey, consisting of insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaf contacts a hair, the trap closes. It has been estimated that there are 3–6 million of these plants being cloned or cultivation today compared to the mere 35,800 flytraps which remain in the wild.

Unlike animals, the legal protection of plants such as the Venus Flytrap is limited to "endangered" species only. The law as it is written fails to regulate the exploitation of common plant species. The rationale behind this is due to the doctrine that plants in general belong to the landowner, where animals are viewed as common property. This reluctance towards interfere with what is perceived as “landowner freedom” applies even to endangered plant species.

Justice for plants has finally arrived since last year they caught four men poaching Venus flytraps on the Holly Shelter Game Land preserve located in North Carolina. This was the first felony charge of stealing the endangered Venus Flytrap plants. Poaching threatens the very existence of this unique and endangered carnivorous plant. The men when they were arrested had in their possession 970 plants. This amounts to approximately 3 percent of the species naturally growing plant population.

In the past 10 years the Nature Conservancy has provided adequate protection for flytraps in relation to development and various fire-suppression schemes however poaching, now remains an ongoing problem. New laws which went into effect on December of 2015 made the act of stealing Venus flytraps a felony which was punishable by up to 39 months in jail. Although this has been an ongoing problem for years, I could not understand why the clone of this plant was not released in the wild

There are several major goals that are identified for this project. First, there must be a means by which a diversity of habitat types can be channeled via science-based land management practices. Followed by a series of specific provisions deemed necessary for a quality environment intended for the endangered species, the goals are to establish sufficient infrastructure and opportunities to allow all users a quality experience. In short, the primary goal would be to preserve and protect the Flytrap for the greater enjoyment of all.

Biological monitoring of most fire-selected species should be expanded to include the Venus Flytrap and related species. The fire return interval should be an average of 3.0 years or less. Eventually, it will be the monitoring of the restored sites which will determine if the project was successful or not. Species such as the Venus Flytrap are generally location-specific.

Science would provide the background knowledge necessary to establish the science-based regulation changes to meet specific goals and changes. In addition, the information gathered would serve to provide science-based regulation in the future.

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