Dionaea The Venus’s Flytrap

Dionaea, better known as the Venus’s Flytrap, is the most famous carnivorous plant and according to Charles Darwin, “one of the most wonderful plants in the world”. No species better represents the paradox of plants that eat animals than Dionaea, with its strange, highly modified leaves that resemble the jaws of a savage beast that snap shut upon victims in less than one second. This long-awaited and visually beautiful book presents the first complete monograph of all aspects of the botanical history, ecology, evolutionary history, distribution and cultivation of this miraculous plant, and describes one hundred Dionaea cultivars from across the world, many of which have never been documented before. Native to only a small part of North and South Carolina, Dionaea is the most iconic plant of the United States and all of the Americas, yet it often remains misunderstood.

Dionaea The Venus’s Flytrap opens with a detailed overview of the carnivorous plants of the world, then introduces the genus Dionaea and examines its distribution, discovery and botanical history, plant structure and trapping process, evolution, habitats and ecology, traditional uses, associated life and cultivation requirements. An extensive and pioneering overview of the conservation status of Dionaea authored by experts Robert Evans, Thomas Gibson and Yari Johnson is then presented.

The next chapter is authored by experts Mathias Maier, Matt Miller, David Marwinski and Brad Richard and documents one hundred cultivars over 190 pages. These include officially recognised cultivars and others that have not yet been registered but are popular and well known among horticulturists in many countries. Each cultivar is described in detail, and illustrated.

The book concludes with recommended nurseries and suppliers of Dionaea plants, an appendix (which includes biographic memoirs of key characters involved in the discovery of Dionaea), a glossary, bibliography, and index.