What kind of reaction time could a mobile plant have?

We have Venus flytraps which move by closing their 'mouth' to trap prey. There are currently few identified plants with a 'quick' reflex like this. Blooms of course open and close through the course of a day and evening but that is pretty slow.

We've all seen things like 'The Wamping Willow' in Harry Potter and the man-eater in Little shop of Horrors or the Crawling vines in Jumanji.

I was wondering what kind of movement and reaction time would a plant be able to accomplish (while still remaining mostly a plant) whether to trap, entice or ward off animals. Could a tree have say vines on the ground that could be triggered by walking and they would just roll up like a carpet fast enough to trap an animal kill it like a boa constrictor (or add poison spines)?

EDT: "While still remaining mostly a plant", I mean I'd like to keep it as close to known plant biology as possible, but since no known plant can do these things, then some fiddling will have to be done.

posted almost 10 years ago

bowlturner‭

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