Saxifraga candelabrum, an alpine flowering plant from China, has been confirmed as carnivorous because it attracts, traps, digests, and absorbs nutrients from insects. Experiments showed digestive enzyme activity and traced nitrogen from labeled fruit flies into the plant’s tissues, providing direct evidence that prey contributes nutrients. The finding revives an idea Charles Darwin raised in 1875 and suggests carnivory may be more widespread among flowering plants than scientists currently recognize. Sticky hairs covering an alpine flower in southwestern China do more than snag passing insects. They help Saxifraga candelabrum obtain nutrients from its prey, placing the plant among the world’s confirmed carnivorous species. The finding adds both Saxifraga and the broader plant order Saxifragales to the known diversity of carnivorous plants. The conclusion required more than observing insects stuck to a plant. To qualify as carnivorous, a species must show adaptations for attracting and capturing prey, digesting it, and absorbing nutrients from it. S. candelabrum met each part of that test. The work also returns to a question Charles Darwin raised in 1875. He suspected …