A Fly Trap without flies

These interesting plants were in an enclosed glass case at the United States Botanic Garden Conservatory in Washington, D.C. They are Venus Fly Traps or Dionaea muscipula from exotic locations in North and South Carolina. I am continually surprised at the collections of items in Washington, D.C. from the ridiculous to the sublime. But what is more interesting is the fact that in all the huge museums and collections, how little is dedicated to anything on the west side of the Allegany Mountains. Here is an explanation of Venus Fly Traps from Wikipedia:

The Venus flytrap (also referred to as Venus's flytrap or Venus' flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves, which is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap prepares to close, snapping shut only if another contact occurs within approximately twenty seconds of the first strike. Triggers may occur if one-tenth of the insect is within contact. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against wasting energy by trapping objects with no nutritional value, and the plant will only begin digestion after five more stimuli to ensure it has caught a live bug worthy of consumption.