--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: The carnivorous plant discovered on Facebook: Drosera magnifica image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt111abd91a0866f69/6988703eab6d77299f6a70d1/time-top-10-2015-drosera-magnifica-carnivorous-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 20, 2015 # The carnivorous plant discovered on Facebook: _Drosera magnifica_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  A carnivorous plant, Drosera Magnifica, discovered on Facebook. A carnivorous plant, Drosera Magnifica, discovered on Facebook.Paulo Gonella Drosera magnifica has it all. The big, five-foot plant seems Little Shop of Horrors-worthy in the way it uses sticky leaves to trap bugs. It may not be the first plant to grab it’s dinner this way, but it’s one of the first one that could practically look you in the eye when it does it. The great big bug-eater also has an impressive discovery story. Plant researcher Paulo Gonella stumbled upon a photo of it while scrolling through pictures on Facebook and decided to investigate. Gonella partnered with the amateur botanist who posted the photo to locate the plant in southeastern Brazil and publish on it in an academic journal. The plant—considered endangered—is thought to be the second largest carnivorous plant in North or South America. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/top-10-everything-of-2015/4122050/the-carnivorous-plant-discovered-on-facebook-drosera-magnifica/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/top-10-everything-of-2015/4122050/the-carnivorous-plant-discovered-on-facebook-drosera-magnifica/"},"headline":"The carnivorous plant discovered on Facebook: Drosera magnifica","datePublished":"2015-11-20T15:10:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:11:01.766Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/top-10-everything-of-2015/4122050/the-carnivorous-plant-discovered-on-facebook-drosera-magnifica/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt111abd91a0866f69/6988703eab6d77299f6a70d1/time-top-10-2015-drosera-magnifica-carnivorous-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt111abd91a0866f69/6988703eab6d77299f6a70d1/time-top-10-2015-drosera-magnifica-carnivorous-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/top-10-everything-of-2015/4122050/the-carnivorous-plant-discovered-on-facebook-drosera-magnifica/","name":"The carnivorous plant discovered on Facebook: Drosera magnifica"}}]}] ```