Venus flytrap
Sources last read 13 September 2026.
Difficult One of the harder ones, and one of the reasons the diagnosis tool exists.
Also called Meadow Clams, Venus' fly trap and Venus' mouse trap.
Toxicity is partly unassessed
What the sources say about its care
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Moist but well-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H3 — -5 to 1°C -5 to 1 °CRHS · read 13 September 2026- Soil
- Loam; pH AcidRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- A thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
A narrow dry border on the Venus flytrap, often with a faint yellow line against the healthy tissue. It appears on several leaves at once rather than spreading from one.
Heated air holds less water than the plant loses into it, so moisture leaves the leaf faster than it arrives. Penn State Extension cites ASHRAE's indoor range of 30% to 60% relative humidity, and winter heating often takes a room below it. That applies while it is grown indoors; its RHS rating of H3 describes a plant that also grows outside, where the air is seldom that dry.
Telling it apart: Look at the pot rim and the soil surface. A white crust points at a build-up from tap water or feed rather than at the air. Penn State also reports misting and pebble trays do little to the humidity around a plant.
Penn State ExtensionVenus flytrap leggy, leaning growth: causes- Brown, papery patches on the leaves nearest the glass
The damage on the Venus flytrap faces one way. Turn the pot round and the other side is clean.
Even a plant described as full sun, partial shade can take more through glass than it would outdoors, because glass removes the breeze that carried the heat away.
Telling it apart: Whether shaded parts are clean. Scorch follows the light exactly; a disease does not care where the sun fell.
RHSVenus flytrap brown leaf tips and edges: causes- Lower leaves collapse and yellow within days of a watering
Colour goes before shape on a Venus flytrap. The outer leaves yellow evenly, stay soft to the touch, and the compost two inches down is still wet from the last watering.
The source for this plant describes moist but well-drained soil. Compost that stays saturated loses the air spaces fine roots grow into, and those roots die back first.
Telling it apart: Weigh the pot in your hand. A pot still heavy a week after watering is holding more water than the roots are using.
RHSDiagnose yellowing leaves on this Venus flytrap- Split, browned leaves on the side of the crown facing the wind
After a windy spell the Venus flytrap shows dry brown edges and torn leaves on its exposed side. New growth that follows is undamaged if the weather settles.
A plant listed for a sheltered site by its source is not built for sustained wind, which both dries its leaves and damages them physically.
Telling it apart: Whether it followed stormy weather. Damage that appeared overnight after wind is weather; damage that develops over weeks is something else.
RHSVenus flytrap brown leaf tips and edges: causes
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Venus flytrap.
Routine care
- Watering
- Use rainwater or distilled water; the plant can die from hard water or chlorinated tap water.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Feeding
- Do not feed this plant with fertilizer.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Propagation
- Taking this plant from the wild is unnecessary, as nursery-propagated stock is easy to find.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Increase from seed or division.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Pruning is not needed.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by mealybugs and aphids. Diseases: usually none.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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About the plant
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. Additionally, when an insect or spider touches one of these hairs, the trap prepares to close, only fully enclosing the prey if a second hair is contacted within (approximately) twenty seconds of the first contact. Triggers may occur as quickly as 1⁄10 of a second from initial contact.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- E. North Carolina to E. South CarolinaWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026North Carolina and South CarolinaNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026E North AmericaRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- subtropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- perennialWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Carnivorous, Herbaceous Perennial, Wildflower; habit clumpingNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Matforming (evergreen)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 6–12 in; width 6–8 inNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Height Up to 10 cm; spread 0.1-0.5 metres after 2–5 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers white; blooms in springNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Flowers white in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
Common problems with Venus flytrap
Plants with similar care
Sources
- ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.