Do flowers have teeth?

The answer is YES!…sort of.

Not all flowers have “teeth”, but we found a few that sort of have teeth – in their own way.

Venus Flytrap
By far the most famous of toothy plants, the venus flytrap is known as the predator of the plant world. Its trapping mechanism is made up of a “mouth”: two leaves, trigger hairs that sense prey and toothlike cilia that keep the prey from escaping. The venus flytrap doesn’t mess around, either — it can tell the difference between live prey and non-prey like raindrops and lets small prey that wouldn’t be worth the energy of digestion go.

Rock Nettles
These plants actually have teeth! Well, maybe not exactly, but calcium phosphate, which is what teeth are made of, is in the stinging hairs, also known as trichomes, of Rock Nettles, a plant native to the South American Andes. The mineral acts to reinforce the trichomes (the teeth). The tiny ouchie stinging hairs serve as a potent reminder for herbivores to back off. When an animal’s tongue comes into contact with the trichomes (teeth), the hardened tips break off and a “painful cocktail” floods the tissue.

Bleeding Tooth Fungus
This mushroom has pale flesh dotted with deep pores seeping thick red fluid and a base studded with small spines which look like teeth. Bleeding tooth fungus mushrooms are so called because they are a “tooth” fungus and the mushroom oozes a thick substance that looks like blood. In spite of the appearance, the fungus, native to the Pacific Northwest, is not dangerous and, in fact, may have a host of health benefits.