Question

Ability of venus fly trap to capture insects is due to
A. Specialized “muscle-like” cells
B. Chemical stimulated by prey
C. Rapid turgor pressure changes
D. Passive process requiring no special ability on the part of the plant.

Answer 1

Venus flytrap adapts special features to survive in a nitrogen lacking environment. Leaves of Venus flytrap play an important role to trap insects. Turgor pressure in the leaves helps in bending of leaves. It traps insects and digest it to take nutrition from it.

Complete answer:
Insectivorous plants trap animals and protozoans and derive some nutrients from them. Insectivorous plants eat insects that’s why they are also called as entomophage. This type of plants have highly adaptive features to catch their prey like pitfalls, sticky surface, hair-trigger snaps, bladder-traps, entangling furriness, and lobster-pot trap mechanisms. Insectivorous plants mostly grow in nitrogen deficient soil usually in swamps that’s why it adapts to the feature of insectivorous plants.
Insectivorous plants include Venus flytrap, Pitcher plants, Butterworts, Sundews, Bladderworts, the Waterwheel plant, etc.
Venus flytrap has open wide leaves and short, trigger or sensitive hairs are present on them. If anything touches these hairs these hairs bend and bending of the leaf is due to the rapid turgor pressure changes in the leaf of Dionaea (venus flytrap) and two lobes of the leaves snap shut and trap whatever is inside. It occurs in less than a second. In this way it traps insects and other animals inside it.
Venus flytrap does not have muscle cells. Chemical secreted by different insects does not affect the working of insectivorous plants.
From the above information we can say that rapid turgor pressure in the leaves of Venus flytrap helps to capture insects in it.

So, the correct answer is option C.

Note: Venus flytrap collects nutrients from the gases in the air and from the soil. Digestive glands are present in the interior edge of the leaf which secretes fluids that dissolve the soft parts of the prey, kill bacteria and fungi and break down the insects with enzymes to extract essential nutrients from them. Venus flytrap lacks in musculature. It does not have a brain to recognize that it can trap something inedible.