Species
+

Dionaea muscipula Ellis

Venus Flytrap, Venus fly trap, Venus fly-trap, Venus flytrap

Climate known 65 photographs Carnivorous plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

The Venus flytrap is a carnivorous plant native to the temperate and subtropical wetlands of North Carolina and South Carolina, on the East Coast of the United States. Although various modern hybrids have been created in cultivation, D. muscipula is the only species of the monotypic genus Dionaea. It is closely related to the waterwheel plant and the cosmopolitan sundews (Drosera), all of which belong to the family Droseraceae. Dionaea catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a "jaw"-like clamping structure, which is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves; when an insect makes contact with the open leaves, vibrations from the prey's movements ultimately trigger the "jaws" to shut via tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Venus flytrap”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Droseraceae
Described by
Ellis
Native to
North Carolina, South Carolina
Wild records
1579 in range· 261 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1366mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 174 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a carnivorous plant by the genus Dionaea, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January, March and May to October in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1366 mm a year, wettest August at 174 mm, driest April at 81 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -6.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Dionaea corymbosa Raf.; Dionaea sensitiva Salisb.; Dionaea sessiliflora Raf.; Dionaea uniflora Raf.; Drosera corymbosa Raf. and 2 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a carnivorous plant by the genus Dionaea, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January, March and May to October in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1014 mm of 1366 mm) takes 8 months, January, March and May to October. Mean temperature moves 19.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April, July and September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1366 mm a year, wettest August at 174 mm, driest April at 81 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1366 mm a year at the habitat, 1014 mm of it January, March and May to October. Wettest month August at 174 mm, driest April at 81 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1203 mm to 1465 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -6.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -6.2 °C, the absolute minimum -17.2 °C, about 43 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 0.6 °C to 5.6 °C), warmest day 30.9 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -6.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 12 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 3 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1366 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 28 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -17.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost38.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-17.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 16–40RH 56–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 28 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C12 / 10–1314 / 12–1517 / 16–1822 / 21–2326 / 24–2730 / 28–3031 / 29–3230 / 29–3027 / 26–2823 / 21–2318 / 16–1914 / 11–14
Night °C3 / 1–64 / 2–78 / 5–1012 / 10–1416 / 15–1821 / 19–2223 / 21–2422 / 21–2419 / 17–2114 / 11–169 / 6–125 / 2–7
Rain mm100 / 90–10593 / 90–99108 / 100–11281 / 75–91101 / 89–111129 / 109–139155 / 121–179174 / 116–192153 / 97–18894 / 85–10684 / 78–9094 / 87–104
DLI17 / 17–1822 / 21–2329 / 29–3037 / 36–3840 / 39–4140 / 39–4138 / 37–3934 / 34–3429 / 29–3024 / 24–2519 / 18–1916 / 15–16
RH %57 / 56–5756 / 56–5756 / 55–5756 / 54–5758 / 56–6062 / 59–6463 / 60–6564 / 61–6562 / 59–6258 / 57–5957 / 57–5857 / 57–58

Each figure is the median across the 28 grid cells holding the 34 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1113:2031 (34.325, -78.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -17.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -6.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 28 distinct grid cells holding the 34 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1113:2031 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.50_-78.125, lapse-corrected +2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 16 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNorth Carolina, South Carolina· introduced: Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Alabama, Florida, Virginia, Jamaica
Kew's description“perennial” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker34.15, -77.995 · in the densest population, 1558 records (99% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1579 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 261 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 19 km away. 368 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1545 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1579 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipulaDionaea muscipula

Photographs: (c) Scott Allen Davis, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Brandon Corder, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jeff Clark, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dionaea muscipula, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Electrical signals and their physiological significance in plants
Jörg Fromm, Silke Lautner (2006) · Plant Cell & Environment
Organic electrochemical neurons and synapses with ion mediated spiking
Padinhare Cholakkal Harikesh, Chi‐Yuan Yang, Deyu Tu, Jennifer Y. Gerasimov (2022) · Nature Communications
Kinetics and Mechanism of Dionaea muscipula Trap Closing
Alexander G. Volkov, Tejumade Adesina, Vladislav S. Markin, Emil Jovanov (2007) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
The Venus Flytrap Dionaea muscipula Counts Prey-Induced Action Potentials to Induce Sodium Uptake
Jennifer Böhm, Sönke Scherzer, Elżbieta Król, Ines Kreuzer (2016) · Current Biology
The action potential of Dionaea muscipula Ellis
D. Hodick, Andreas Sievers (1988) · Planta
Closing of Venus Flytrap by Electrical Stimulation of Motor Cells
Alexander G. Volkov, Tejumade Adesina, Emil Jovanov (2007) · Plant Signaling & Behavior
A special pair of phytohormones controls excitability, slow closure, and external stomach formation in the Venus flytrap
María Escalante‐Pérez, Elżbieta Król, Annette Stange, Dietmar Geiger (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Snapping mechanics of the Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula )
Renate Sachse, Anna S. Westermeier, Max D. Mylo, Joey Nadasdi (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Calcium sensor kinase activates potassium uptake systems in gland cells of Venus flytraps
Sönke Scherzer, Jennifer Böhm, Elżbieta Król, Lana Shabala (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Carnivorous plants used for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity
Rafał Banasiuk, Marta Krychowiak‐Masnicka, Daria Świgon, Wojciech Tomaszewicz (2017) · Arabian Journal of Chemistry

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 31 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.