A Venus flytrap can close its trap in roughly a fraction of a second, making it one of the fastest movements in the plant kingdom. Yet the carnivorous plant does not simply slam its trap shut whenever anything touches it.
That apparent restraint is crucial. Science says the Venus flytrap uses a sophisticated threshold system involving mechanosensory hairs, electrical signals, calcium ions and a form of cellular “memory” to determine whether a stimulus is worth responding to.
