In message , "David
(Normandy)" writes

"K" wrote in message
...
"David (Normandy)" writes
Anyone know how do Venus fly traps digest flies? Mine earns its keep on
the
windowsill by catching an assortment of house flies, gnats etc, but when
the
traps eventually re-open the flies still look intact and undigested.

I've always assumed they digest the soft bits not the hard bits. Are you
sure the flies aren't just empty husks of flies?
--
Kay

They might be. I'll have a prod. I just wondered if the plants put some sort
of "roots" into the flies, otherwise I can't see how they extract any
goodness from them.

My recollection is that the Venus Fly-Trap (Dionaea muscipula) secretes
enzymes which digest the trapped flies, and absorbs the resulting
nutrients through the leaf surface.

There's a series of articles in New Phytologist - The Secretory Cycle of
Dionaea muscipula Ellis I-V. These should tell you more than want to
know.

David.



--
Stewart Robert Hinsley