Q: Dionaea: various types

• Normal trap
• 'Cupped Trap'
• Red plant

A: There is only one species in the genus: Dionaea muscipula Soland. ex Ellis. However, that has not stopped horticulturists for making lots of interesting horticultural selections. Looking through a Dionaea specialist's growlist can be overwhelming!

Most Dionaea plants that have been given bona fide cultivar names can be grouped into plants with interesting attributes in the following categories. They are interesting to study, since they show what Dionaea enthusiasts value most.

Trap color
Usually this involves plants that have intensely red traps, but can also include clones with bright overall red coloration, including the tissue on the leaf base and petiole. The first Dionaea cultivar ever established was Dionaea 'Red Dragon', an icon of this group. In my experience, Dionaea in the wild only very rarely have red petioles. I have only seen such plants in one area in the wild, in an area I do not care to disclose. More recently, a bright green plants has been recognized with a cultivar name, and I expect other color variants to be named at some point, too.

Mutated traps
This includes the many plants with strangely shaped traps. Most have only minor oddities such as short or modified marginal spines that may be triangular or sawtooth-like. However, some have such extremely mutated traps that they can no longer function properly (such as Dionaea 'Wacky Traps', 'Cupped Trap', and 'Fused Tooth'),

Large traps
As you might expect, plants with large traps are highly valued, such as Dionaea 'B52'.

More information can be found here:
Why isn't my Venus flytrap red like in the photos?
How many kinds of Venus flytraps are there?


Page citations: Rice, B.A. 2006a.