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RE: A new study has found that the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) can opt not to eat its pollinators!
I remember reading something about how the criterion of having two or more hairs triggered within a short time span was a bit of a biological mystery at one time. People couldn't figure out how a plant had a memory, for lack of a better term. I haven't seen anything that really went into how that mystery was unraveled - did you come across anything in your reading?
That's a great question, @effofex! I didn't really find out much more about this, and it seems like it is still a big mystery. The leading hypothesis seem to be that ion pumps change the concentration of H+ ions, and thus reduces the pH of the cell that has been triggered, which it can then use as a "memory function", but there does not seem to be any real evidence of this hypothesis being correct, so take that as you will.
Interesting use of pH as a signalling mechanism. Certainly fast enough to operate on that time scale.
Yeah, it's indeed interesting. But keep in mind that this has not really been proven, but it's just a hypothesis at this point.