<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 100 - kilometer (60 mi) 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> Plants can be propagated by seed, taking around four to five years to reach maturity . More commonly, they are propagated by clonal division in spring or summer . Venus flytraps can also be propagated in vitro using plant tissue culture . Most Venus flytraps found for sale in nurseries garden centers have been produced using this method, as this is the most cost - effective way to propagate them on a large scale . Regardless of the propagation method used, the plants will live for 20 to 30 years if cultivated in the right conditions . </P>

Where do venus flytraps live in the wild