Study links Venus flytrap's snap to cell-wall softening (opens in new tab)

Researchers said the Venus flytrap begins its rapid trap closure by softening cell walls almost instantly in the outer epidermis of its leaf trap, challenging the long-standing view that the motion starts mainly through rapid water redistribution inside the leaf. The study, published Thursday in Science, examined Dionaea muscipula, whose prey-catching leaf has two hinged lobes that close after insects touch trigger hairs inside the trap. The mechanism helps explain how the plant captures inse...