Cobra Plant   GENUS Darlingtonia
 

Darlingtonia californica

Spiders. Spiders. And more spiders......

Early morning.....  A dew-covered flower is worked on by small spiders.  Nightly dews still conspicuous on the flower...

Spiders waste no time acting on a still dew-covered blossom in early morning. This is early-May, the flowering season has just barely commenced / started in this locale. An early arrival of the arachnid species leaves little chance/room for any insect pollinators to service the flower.  

I have personally witnessed several different kinds of spiders on the Darlingtonia flowers.

Infestation...

When the trigger hairs on the inner surface of the trap lobes are stimulated, the clam-shell-shaped trap closes suddenly --- often in less than a half second --- fast enough to capture such agile insects as a fly quite comfortably. Intermeshing marginal spines effectively prevent the prey's escape. After the initial rapid closure, the insect's struggle inside the trap further stimulates the trigger hairs, causing the trap lobes to close even more tightly.  In a day or so, the trap is seen tightly sealed around the free margins of the lobes, with the marginal spines pointing outwardly. The digestive fluids start to ooze into the now sealed trap cavity. As the digestive process progresses, the products of digestion are swiftly absorbed through the leaf and are carried away to the other parts of the plant.

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