How Many Carnivorous Plants Exist?
Most people think of carnivorous plants as Venus flytraps and maybe a pitcher plant or two. The real number surprises almost everyone. There are roughly 850 to 900 known species spread across about 20 genera, and new ones are still being described every few years. After more than 30 years in this hobby, I'm still finding plants I've never grown.
What Makes a Plant Carnivorous?
A carnivorous plant does three things. It attracts and traps animals, usually insects. It breaks them down with enzymes or bacteria. And it absorbs the nutrients, mostly nitrogen and phosphorus, that its poor, boggy soil doesn't provide. That last part is why they evolved this way in the first place, and it's also why they can still survive without bugs. The bugs are a supplement. Light is the real food.
The Main Groups
Species counts shift as botanists split and lump plants, so treat these as close estimates.
- Venus flytrap (Dionaea): just one species, native only to a small area of North and South Carolina.
- American pitcher plants (Sarracenia): around 8 to 11 species depending on who's counting, plus countless hybrids.
- Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes): over 180 species, mostly in Southeast Asia.
- Sun pitchers (Heliamphora): around two dozen species, found on the tepuis of South America.
- Sundews (Drosera): over 250 species, on every continent except Antarctica.
- Butterworts (Pinguicula): around 100 species, with a huge concentration in Mexico.
- Bladderworts (Utricularia): over 230 species, the largest genus of all, many of them aquatic.
Nepenthes edwardsiana, one of 180+ species, from $195
Flytrap Sandokan, one species, endless cultivars, from $49
Only one Venus flytrap species exists, but growers have selected hundreds of cultivars from it. Every flytrap in my catalog is Dionaea muscipula. See how different they can look.
Many Ways to Catch a Meal
Carnivory evolved more than once. Unrelated plant families landed on the same idea independently, which is why the traps look so different from each other.
- Snap traps: Venus flytraps.
- Pitfall traps: Nepenthes, Sarracenia, and Heliamphora.
- Sticky flypaper leaves: sundews and butterworts.
- Suction bladders: bladderworts, some of the fastest traps in the plant world.
Sizes range from sundews smaller than a coin to Nepenthes pitchers over a foot tall. Where carnivorous plants come from.
One From Each Group
All in stock now, if you want to start a collection that covers the range.
Why Nursery Grown Matters
A lot of these plants are in trouble in the wild. Wetlands get drained and developed, fire suppression lets bogs get overgrown, and poaching still hits rare species hard, including wild Venus flytraps in the Carolinas.
The best thing a grower can do is buy nursery propagated plants and never collect from the wild. Everything I sell is nursery grown, seed grown, or tissue cultured.
More Than You'd Guess
Close to 900 species, a handful of completely different trap designs, and plants on every continent but Antarctica. Once you get past the flytrap, there's a whole world to explore. If you're just getting started, my beginner's guide is the place to begin.
Start or Grow Your Collection
Species and cultivars across nearly every carnivorous genus.
Happy Growing
Jeremiah Harris
Jeremiahsplants.com