• Question: what is the most interesting plant you have seen

    Asked by to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Isabel Webb

      Isabel Webb answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      I think that the most interesting plant I’ve seen has to be the venus fly trap! I have one growing in a pot in my house.

      I think it is amazing how they can catch bugs, and use them for food, when most other plants rely completely on sunlight.

      They also have clever tricks to make sure they don’t waste their resources (once a mouth closes it dies, so they have to grow another – so you want to close only if there is a bug there). They have tiny hairs all over them which sense movement and close. But they only close if they sense movement in two different places within a few seconds, so they know a bug is definitely there!

      I’d love to go somewhere exotic and see one of the massive venus fly traps though – mine is only small!

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      the most interesting plant I have seen is actually quite boring looking

      It is a weed called Thale Cress, also known by it’s latin name “Arabidopsis thaliana”

      This plant is studied all over the world because it is a model species, or other the “lab rat” of the plant world

      Things which scientists learn from this plant, can be checked for many other plants

      I was lucky to work on this plant when I first became a Scientist, so i’m a little bias”

      If you want something fun to look at though

      google Orchis simia – Monkey orchid., I have never seen this plant in real life. But i really want to, hopefully in the wild. This is on my to do list!

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