Species · genus Dionaea · Droseraceae

Venus Flytrap

Dionaea muscipula Ellis

Also known as: Venus Fly Trap · Venus's Flytrap · Venus' Flytrap

Growth habit

perennial

Native range

North Carolina, South Carolina

Reference · D. muscipula

Cultivars of D. muscipula

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under D. muscipula yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

The Venus flytrap is a carnivorous perennial native to the nutrient-poor, sunny bogs of the Carolinas, so it wants constantly damp roots, intense light, and only mineral-free water such as distilled or rainwater — tap minerals will accumulate and burn it. Keep it sitting in a shallow tray so the peat-based, gritty mix stays moist; water before the surface dries, never letting the medium go fully dry. It draws nitrogen from insects rather than fertilizer, and a winter dormancy with cooler temperatures is part of its natural cycle.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 1-3d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Direct sun

Water

≈ every 3 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

5–30 °C

Soil mix

Nutrient-free peat and perlite, never fertilized soil

Propagation

Division, leaf pullings, or seed

Fertilizing

None; it feeds by trapping insects

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

White spring blooms on tall stalks held above the traps; needs a cool winter dormancy

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Not yet documented

This is where toxicity lives — every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 1-3d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Venus Flytrap yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.