Q: Carnivorous plants of South America--a land of grotesque wealth!

• South America

A: South America is truly glutted with carnivorous plants! Not only does it have species from several genera, it is endowed with the tepuis of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana, where Heliamphora and other spectacular carnivorous plants grow. On this page I will mention these and other carnivorous plants that are known from the thirteen countries that comprise South America. (Trinidad and Tobago are treated as part of the Caribbean.) Remember that this is just an overview!

Smaller genera
Let's cover the easy groups first.

• Brocchinia hechtioides and B. reducta
• Catopsis berteroniana
• Heliamphora: the entire genus.

• Genlisea pygmaea
  tuber
• Drosera
  intermedia
• Drosera
  capillaris
• Drosera
  brevifolia
• Utricularia
  jamesoniana
• Utricularia
  calycifida

Pinguicula
A set of species occur in South America, all of which are endemic to the region, including P. antarctica, P. calyptrata, P. chilensis, P. elongata, P. involuta and P. jarmilae.

Genlisea
About half of this genus occurs in South America, and most are endemics:

Drosera
With the short lists aside, let us now look at the two genera that dominate South America (at least in numbers of species. There are literally dozens of species of Drosera in this region--so many that I won't even try to list them all--it would be maddening and foolish.

Utricularia
And now, a genus to completely overwhelm you--here there are somewhere on the order of about 80 known species in this region, and most are endemic. It would be madness for me to maintain the list here. (I used to, but it was a huge time sink--sorry.)

• Back to carnivorous plants of the world

Page citations: Casper, J. 1966; Fleischmann, A. 2012; Lampard, S., et al. 2016; Rice, B.A. 2006a; Rivadavia, F. 2008, 2009; Robinson, A., et al. 2017; Schlauer, J. 2002; Taylor, P. 1989.