The Waterwheel

The waterwheel is a free-floating water plant. It spends its entire life in water. It looks like a wheel with many spokes. The underwater trap of the waterwheel is the size of a pin head.  the waterwheel's leaves are its traps. The traps are activated when insects touch the trigger hairs. Each leaf is very tiny.  It has little white flowers, which bloom in the spring, and show just above the water's surface.

Habitat:  Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and Japan - quiet ponds and swamps

Food:  water fleas, plankton, insect larvae

Size: 15 to 25 cm long with over 100 traps per plant

How it traps food: The two halves of the leaves are open until an insect touches the trigger hairs on the inside of the lobes. Then they close quickly, digests it meal and reopens to catch the next meal.