New ‘Home of Venus Flytrap’ license plates to be available from NC DMV

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — One of North Carolina’s most famous native plants will now be celebrated through a new specialty license plate.

A new “Home of the Venus Flytrap” plate will be available to choose from the Division of Motor Vehicles after NC Governor Roy Cooper signed a transportation bill Wednesday that included the approval of the new plate. The new option had bipartisan support, as it was sponsored by State Representatives Allen Buansi (D-District 56) and Frank Iler (R-District 17).

Iler’s district encompasses some of Brunswick County, which is part of the natural home of the famously carnivorous plant. According to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s North Carolina Botanical Garden, the Venus flytrap is native only to a 90-mile area around Wilmington on the state’s southeastern coast.

The NC DMV received nearly 800 preorders for the specialty plate before the bill was even approved, the NC Botanical Garden said. It will take a few months for the agency to get the plate ready for mass production, fill the preorders and make it available to the general public through DMV offices.

Durham-based artist Preston Montague designed the plate. The specialty plate costs $30, and for every Venus flytrap plate that’s renewed each year, the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation will get $20 while the NC DMV will keep $10.

According to the NC Botanical Garden, the foundation “will use the funds to help conserve native plants and help restore healthy landscapes across North Carolina” through support of conservation organizations.

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