Name

Open Wide!
By Colleen Messina
Hungry is not usually a
word used to describe
plants, but I am an unusual
plant. I am a carnivorous
one. I eat bugs! To be
accurate, I should say I get
nutrients from bugs, but it
looks like I eat them the
way you eat cookies. My
leaves look like a small
mouth. They are a lovely
shade of green on one side,
and they have a pink
surface on the other. I have stiff little hairs on my leaves on their pink
side. I keep my leaves open wide like a mouth. Insects and spiders
land on them. If their tiny feet touch the hairs on my leaves, my
"mouth" snaps shut. Insects have to touch two different hairs within
twenty seconds for this to happen. I will give you a hint about my
name. Part of my name is the same as a small planet that is closer to
the sun than Earth. I also get nutrients from the air and the soil, but I
do enjoy a good fly for dinner. If I could think and talk, I would say
"Yummy!" But don't worry. I won't bite you. What kind of plant am
I?
Open Wide!
Questions
1. The leaves of this plant are green and what other color?
A. blue
B. orange
C. pink
D. none of the above
2. What gets triggered on the leaves of the plant that make them
close?
A. hairs
B. rods
C. buttons
D. none of the above
3. Part of the name of this plant is a planet that is closer to the
sun than Earth.
A. false
B. true
4. What type of plant does this paragraph discuss?
Would you like to have a Venus flytrap at your house? Why or why
not?
Name
Does your family have some houseplants? Describe one or two in
detail. Do you help take care of them? If so, what do you do?