Bladderworts
Bladderworts are the smallest of carnivorous plants, and the most sophisticated. ~ Czech botanist LubomÃr Adamec
A water flea bumbles into a little cup in a bladderwort. A touch-sensitive hair-trigger opens a trapdoor, and the flea whooshes into the bladderwort’s stomach.
Bladderwort traps act as an elastic buckle. At just the right pressure, the domelike trap stays shut.
A slight touch springs open a door into the trap, which closes in fractions of a second. No plant has a faster a mechanical mechanism.
