<Li> Ultimately, as the plant relied more on closing around the insect rather than gluing them to the leaf surface, the tentacles so evident in Drosera would lose their original function altogether, becoming the "teeth" and trigger hairs--an example of natural selection utilizing pre-existing structures for new functions . </Li> <Li> Completing the transition, the plant eventually developed the depressed digestive glands found inside the trap, rather than using the dews in the stalks, further differentiating it from genus Drosera . </Li> <P> The Venus flytrap is found in nitrogen - and phosphorus - poor environments, such as bogs and wet savannahs . Small in stature and slow - growing, the Venus flytrap tolerates fire well, and depends on periodic burning to suppress its competition . Fire suppression threatens its future in the wild . It survives in wet sandy and peaty soils . Although it has been successfully transplanted and grown in many locales around the world, it is native only to the coastal bogs of North and South Carolina in the United States, specifically within a 60 - mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina . One such place is North Carolina's Green Swamp . There also appears to be a naturalized population of Venus flytraps in northern Florida as well as an introduced population in western Washington . The nutritional poverty of the soil is the reason that the plant relies on such elaborate traps: insect prey provide the nitrogen for protein formation that the soil cannot . The Venus flytrap is not a tropical plant and can tolerate mild winters . In fact, Venus flytraps that do not go through a period of winter dormancy will weaken and die after a period of time . </P> <P> Venus flytraps are popular as cultivated plants, but have a reputation for being difficult to grow . Successfully growing these specialized plants requires recreating a close approximation to the plant's natural habitat . </P>

Where do venus flytraps grow in north carolina