Venus flytrap
Dionaea muscipula
Also called Dionaea
Houseplant · CarnivorousIt needs a cold winter. Left warm and lit all year it makes smaller traps each spring and dies in its third — a windowsill is the wrong place for it from November to March.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Hard
- Water
- Every 3 daysFrom below — stand the pot in a couple of centimetres of water.
- Light
- Full sun — four hours of direct sun or more
- Feed
- Not needed
- Humidity
- Average to high
- Hardiness
- Half-hardy — a light frost RHS H3, to -5°C
- Size
- 0.15 m tall · 0.2 m across
- Lifecycle
- Perennial
- Origin
- The Carolinas, on the US Atlantic coastal plain
Is it safe for pets and people?
PetsSafe for pets
PeopleNot checked yet
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-08-05.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- The trap rims brown and the teeth crumble first while the flat stalks below stay green — mineral salt from tap water building up in the moss.Tap-water burn · disorder
- The second spring's traps come up half the size of the first year's and never colour up inside.No winter dormancy · disorder