The World’s Newest Carnivorous Plant Is a Red Sundew That ‘Death Hugs’ Its Insect Prey. Its Survival Depends on a Rare and Disappearing Florida Habitat

Confined to hidden sinkhole lakes in the Panhandle, the Florida threadleaf sundew is both a discovery and a warning bell for a vanishing ecosystem that’s long been ignored

October 29, 2026 7:30 a.m.

The Florida threadleaf sundew is endemic to just two counties in the state’s Panhandle, where it relies on the sandy margins of sinkhole lakes. Lilly Anderson-Messec

Florida botanist Lilly Anderson-Messec can quote the English poet John Donne by heart. “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. … Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Anderson-Messec stretches that oneness from humanity to ecology. She says a piece of her dies every time a native Florida plant goes extinct.…