The Carnivorous Plants
The Venus flytrap and the pitcher plant are neighbors, and they share a common hobby: they love eating insects. However, neither holds the other in high regard.
“Judging by your name, you must be good at catching flies!” the pitcher plant said with a look of disdain.
“By that logic, you must be good at catching pigs?!” the Venus flytrap retorted.
The surrounding grasses laughed at the Venus flytrap’s response.
But the pitcher plant wasn’t angry. Instead, it puffed out its chest and said, “Although I can’t catch pigs, I can still eat common insects.”
“Stop bragging. How do you catch insects?” the Venus flytrap said disdainfully.
“Look at my leaves, they have very long petioles,” the pitcher plant explained. “The base of the petiole has become a wide and flat false leaf, the middle part has turned into a slender tendril, and the end has become a pitcher. The leaf blade has turned into the lid of the pitcher. The rim of the pitcher secretes nectar to attract insects. Once the insects are careless, they will slip into the pitcher, and then the lid will immediately cover the opening, trapping the insects inside.”
“The key is how you eat the insects that fall into the pitcher,” the Venus flytrap questioned.
“That’s actually very simple. There’s digestive fluid at the bottom of the pitcher. The insects will be digested into nutrient liquid that I can absorb,” the pitcher plant paused and then asked the Venus flytrap, “Mr. Venus flytrap, you don’t have a pitcher, so how do you catch and digest insects?”
“I…” the Venus flytrap hesitated, unsure how to explain.
“It seems this guy is just bragging,” the surrounding grasses jeered.
At this moment, a fly flew by.
“Everyone, be quiet, I’m going to eat a bug!” the Venus flytrap said excitedly.
Everyone fell silent, even the pitcher plant widened its eyes, wanting to see how the Venus flytrap would catch the fly.
The Venus flytrap’s oval leaves, divided into two lobes along the midrib, looked like an open clam shell. The leaf surfaces had many glandular hairs, and the edges were lined with numerous cilia. As the fly approached, the Venus flytrap suddenly snapped its clam shell-like leaves shut. The cilia on the leaf edges interlocked tightly, trapping the fly inside.
“Wait a moment, and I’ll digest it with my digestive juices,” the Venus flytrap said, holding the leaves.
Only then did everyone realize what had happened, and they started applauding the Venus flytrap.
From then on, the Venus flytrap and the pitcher plant became good neighbors.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
