They don’t actually eat humans, though. They feed on beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. Perhaps more interesting than their diet, however, is their habitat.
The Venus flytrap doesn’t grow many places naturally. In fact, it’s found natively only in North and South Carolina in the United States, specifically within a 60-mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina!
They have been found naturally in northern Florida as well.
This doesn’t mean those are the only places the plant will grow. It’s hard to grow a Venus flytrap, but not that hard. It has been successfully transplanted and grown in many locales around the world. There is now an introduced population in western Washington State.
Venus flytraps are a very popular as cultivated plants, but have a reputation for being difficult to grow. It’s not surprising that people want a plant that actually eats insects! This is such a fascination that many growers remove the plants flowering stem early, as flowering consumes some of the plant's energy, and reduces the rate of trap production.
